A Wrong Day's Journey
by LittletonPace
Summary: Jack Bauer is on yet another mission to save the world with CTU. But when the past long forgotten resurfaces, Jack must decide where his loyalties truly lie. Please read & review. Chapter 25 up :D
1. Chapter 1

_Things to know before you read: Wayne Palmer is President. Jack is no longer with Audrey. Bill is head of CTU. Chloe and Morris are together. _

**CHAPTER ONE**

**Hour One**

**4:00-5:00**

Jack Bauer walked into the boardroom and spied Director of CTU, Bill Buchannon, with a stern look on his face. Jack knew that look; it meant something serious was going on. Although Jack had surmised as much when he'd received the phone call that morning from CTU asking him to come in. All he'd been told was that his 'skills were needed' and to get down to headquarters ASAP.

Bill directed Jack to a chair at the end of the long boardroom table. The pair was along in the room, which was unusual unless it was a highly sensitive operation that Jack would be working on.

"Thanks for coming in, Jack." Bill began, taking his place at the head of the table. "Sorry to call you in on such short notice but we really need your help."

"What's going on?" Jack asked, leaning forwards in his chair.

"President Palmer called me an hour ago; there's been a threat on Los Angeles." Bill said with a sigh. He'd become used to saying that phrase he knew that it had lost its sting. And the fact that Jack barely flinched as he heard it only confirmed Bill's thought.

"What kind of threat?" asked Jack; eager to get involved.

"Intel is still coming in but as far as we know it's been linked to the terrorist group Al-Haeq." Bill turned and clicked on the screen behind him. It showed the pictures of a Middle Eastern man meeting with different groups of people. "This is Maliqe Shiraz. We believe he's the head of the organization. He escaped from an Iraqi prison five years ago and all our sources say he came to the states illegally within the last two years." Bill slid a file across the table to Jack.

"Is he in the database?" Jack asked with a furrowed brow as he looked through the file.

"No. There's no record on him." Bill admitted. "Chloe's searching everything we have. But since we have more speculation than facts right now we've been advised to keep it quiet."

Jack closed the file and rested his hands on top of it. He looked up at Bill. "What do you need me to do?"

"President Palmer was scheduled to do a press tour of L.A tomorrow morning and he'd like to continue under that illusion for the public's sake. He'll be boarding Air Force One at approximately eleven o'clock tonight and I'd like to have something positive to tell him."

"I'm still not clear on what you need me to do." Jack asked quizzically.

"Al-Haeq is a well known terrorist group in their own country." Bill clicked a button on the remote control and the images changed on the scream behind him. "Their weapon of choice is home-made chemical bombs activated by a microchip like this." The screen showed the image of what Bill was speaking about. "From what we've discovered, the chip and the bomb are kept in two separate locations; the bomb can't detonate without the chip to activate it."

"Where's the chip?" Jack pressed.

"That's where you come in." Bill told him. "All we know for sure is that Maliqe does not have the chip in his possession."

"Which means he more than likely has the bomb." Jack inferred.

"That's the assumption we're running with." Bill confirmed. "And if we're correct and Maliqe is planning this attack for tomorrow; then sometime between now and then he will be receiving the chip. You're here to make sure that doesn't happen."

"What's our first move?" Jack asked. The pair of them both knew in that moment that Jack had silently agreed to this mission.

"Maliqe's last known residence was abandoned some months ago. We had a team do a sweep and they found the charred remains of a computer half buried in the backyard. Most of the data we managed to pull off of the hard drive was corrupted, but we did recover an address in the East Village." Bill retrieved another piece of paper from the stack in his grasp and handed it over to Jack. "Assemble a team and get down there ASAP."

"Yes sir." Jack collected the sheets of paper of the file together, stood up and walked purposefully out of the room.

xxx

In another part of town, Danielle Carter was stepping out of the shower into her bathroom. She wiped her hand over the fogged mirror and stared at her reflection. She pulled her fingers through her damp hair and silently judged the colour she'd just dyed it. Formally a mousey brown, Danielle's hair now gleamed a dark red, almost purplish colour. She wrapped her it loosely in a towel and went into her bedroom.

Danielle changed into a pair of dark denim jeans and a white tank top. She let her hair down to dry in the air and set about picking up the clutter in her bedroom. She re-made her bed and tossed her dirty clothes in the hamper. Danielle then picked up her old high school yearbook that she'd been glancing through the night before and replaced it on the bookshelf against the wall. She'd gone to bed remembering the prom and how much fun she and her date had that night. Feeling her room was clean enough, Danielle headed downstairs to the kitchen.

Just as she was finishing preparing her afternoon coffee, the phone rang. Danielle answered it, knowing who it would be before she'd even picked it up.

"Maliqe?" she said expectantly into the phone.

"Do you have it?" Maliqe answered back sternly.

Danielle sighed. "Yeah." She wandered over to her desk and opened the top drawer, pulling out a small plastic case. Inside this case was a microchip. "I've got it."


	2. Chapter 2

**CHAPTER TWO**

**Hour One**

**4:00-5:00**

Jack walked into Maliqe's former residence for the third time since he'd arrived. His team had swept the place twice to make sure that no one was in the vicinity, so now Jack was checking the contents of the home. So far, he'd found nothing incriminating.

Agent Kevin Daniels came up to Jack with a dejected expression. "Agent Bauer; we've done a sweep of the inside of this place; there's nothing here."

"The address was in the computer for a reason." Jack reminded him. As he spoke, his eyes drifted out the window to the crowd of people gathering around the police cars that had accompanied Jack and his men. In that moment, Jack had an idea. "I'll be back." Jack told Agent Daniels.

Outside, Jack walked up to an elderly woman clutching a small dog. "Excuse me, ma'am? My name is Jack Bauer; I'm a Federal Agent. Can I ask you a few questions?"

"Of course. How can I help you?" The woman replied.

"Do you know who owns this house?" Jack asked her.

"Oh my, no. That home has been empty for months now." She told Jack as she patted her dog. "It's a shame; it's a beautiful house."

"Do you know who lived there before?" Jack inquired.

"Oh, he was a lovely man." The woman beamed. "His name was John Smith. I'd see him every morning when I walked Bessie here." She patted her dog. "I was sorry when he had to move."

"Could you describe him for me?"

"About your age, I'd say. Dark hair and eyes. Middle Eastern accent." The woman told Jack. "He was always so sweet; he brought me my mail when I broke my leg. I live alone, you see."

Jack nodded. "Ma'am-"

"Oh please, call me Annie." The woman chuckled.

Jack smiled. "Annie. Thank you for your help." He directed her to a member of his team. "Do you think you could go with Agent Phillips and describe Mr Smith for him? He's a composite artist."

"Of course." Annie said to Jack. "Is he in trouble?"

"We're really just gathering information at this time." Jack told her, unable to give anything away at this stage.

"Can I bring my dog?" Annie asked.

Jack smiled. "Of course."

Annie left with Agent Phillips. Jack took out his cell phone and rang CTU.

"O'Brien." Chloe answered on the other end of the line.

"Chloe, its Jack." Jack told her. "The house is empty but I need you to run a check on the previous owner."

"Sure. What's the name?" Chloe asked.

"A witness calls him John Smith, most likely an alias." Jack told her. "Agent Phillips will send you a composite sketch and you can run it through the database."

"Alright, I'll see what I can do." Chloe hung up.

"Thanks." Jack pocketed his phone.

xxx

Danielle had left her home and was now driving to the location she and Maliqe had arranged for the trade. She was to be given quite a handsome some for carrying the chip in her possession for the past few months while Maliqe organized Al-Haeq in Los Angeles.

Clicking on the radio, Danielle sighed and the weight of the situation she'd gotten herself in. She refused to call herself a terrorist; even though every court in the United States would try and sentence her under such a title. They would also classify her as a traitor. She was born and raised in the United States. Her reasons for working with Maliqe were purely independent. As an only child, she'd grown up on her own and had always felt more comfortable when playing by her own rules. It was the only way she could be sure she wouldn't be disappointed.

There was a very good chance Danielle wouldn't survive today and that much she knew. Maliqe was a man of his word, or at least he had been so far, but that didn't mean that he wouldn't dispose of her as soon as he could. Especially if he perceived her to be a threat.

Danielle took a left and headed onto the main road. If she was lucky she'd miss the evening traffic and be right on time to meet Maliqe. The address was only ten minutes away from her home and if she were late, it could literally be her head on the chopping block.

xxx

Jack was clearing his men out of the home when his cell phone rang. The caller ID read Chloe.

"Yeah." Jack answered.

"Jack. I ran the composite sketch from you witness through the database." Chloe told him.

"Did you get a match?" Jack asked, silently hopeful.

"No." Chloe told him dejectedly. "But Maliqe isn't in the system so this could still be him. I'm sending a copy to local police and FBI as well as your PDA. You should get it in a few seconds."

As Chloe spoke, Jack's PDA beeped in his jacket pocket. He pulled it out and opened the new file. Sure enough, it was an image of who he was currently referring to as John Smith. Jack was confident this was a false name, many terrorists changed their names when the moved on to a new country. Especially those with a record.

"Thanks, Chloe." Jack said as he hung up.

"Agent Bauer!" called Agent Daniels as he ran from inside the house. In his hand was a crumpled piece of paper. "We found this underneath a floorboard. Seems to have been left behind."

Jack took the paper from Daniels and opened it. It was a map of downtown L.A. There were a few circled areas as well as numbers written in some kind of sequence on the left hand side of the page.

"Could these be possible targets?" Agent Daniels asked Jack as he peered over his shoulder.

"It's possible." Jack told him. "Get these addresses to Chloe and see if she can match them to anything we pulled of Maliqe's hard drive. Get all the agents together; we have to get back to CTU."

xxx

Danielle pulled her SUV into a gravel driveway and shut off the engine. She pocketed the keys and jumped out. Ahead of her was a small, rundown home that looked abandoned. Danielle knew better than to judge, though. She went up the front porch steps to the front door. She knocked three times and waited. Sure enough, she heard heavy footsteps coming towards her. Footsteps she knew were not Maliqe's.

The door opened and a heavy set man Andie knew as Jonah stood before her. "Get in." He said looking fervently around to make sure know one was there. He shut the door behind her and grabbed her by the upper arm.

Danielle wretched her arm out of his grip. "Uh, uh, uh." She taunted. "We talked about the man-handling, remember?" Jonah looked annoyed but didn't react. "Let's not do that again." She simpered.

Walking through the hallway, she reached the kitchen at the end of the hall and spied two men she knew sitting at the table. One of whom was Micah, probably the closest thing Danielle had to a friend, and the other was Rahjid, a right hand man to Maliqe. And these two men just happened to be brothers.

"Where's the boss?" Danielle asked.

"He instructed us to take the chip and make the transaction." Rahjid told her pompously. Danielle never liked him. He was so revoltingly proud of being in Maliqe's inner-circle that his ego practically seeped out of his pores. Danielle had a dream one night where she put a bullet straight through his skull. And she'd woken up feeling oddly satisfied.

"No deal." Danielle shook her head. "I want to see Maliqe. We have terms to discuss."

Micah stood up. "Danni, really, it's just easier for you to deal with us." He said obviously trying to be the calmest of them. Truth was, Micah was forced into this world by Rahjid. Danielle had the most confident of thoughts that he would've been the most stand up of all gentleman. But he even managed to bring some sort of chivalry into the way he operated. Although he had this annoying habit of always seeming more nervous than he was. Like at that moment.

"Micah, I'm not playing these games. Maliqe and I worked out an agreement. If he doesn't want to own up to his part of it then the chip's not going anywhere." Danni took the chip in its case out of her pocket and held it up to the men at the table. She knew that the chip was the last piece of the puzzle for these guys. And she wasn't giving it up without a fight.

The back door to the kitchen opened. "Alright." Maliqe said bitterly as he walked into the kitchen. "You got your way."

Danni pocketed the chip again. "My payment."

"Where do you want it?" Maliqe asked.

"Set up a new account." She told him. "It doesn't matter what bank just make sure it's in New York. Make it in the name of William Matthews. And make it so he can't find out who the money's from."

"Done." Maliqe nodded. "It will be transferred right away." He extended his hand to Danielle. "The chip."

"When the money's in." Danni told him.

Maliqe slowly retracted his hand. "Very well." He muttered. He turned to Rahjid. "Do it now."

"Yes sir." Rahjid got to his feet and went over to the laptop that was sitting on the bench and began tapping away at it. "It should only be a few minutes."

xxx

Jack's cell phone rang while he was heading back to CTU. He clicked on the hands-free button on the cells keypad. "Yeah."

"Jack, I ran those addresses from the map." Chloe's voice rang through his car. "I found one connection. An abandoned paddock was circled on the map. I got a satellite image of the land. There's a house on it and its not on this or any map I could find."

"Wait, what's the connection?" Jack asked.

"I'm getting there." Chloe said; her aggravated tone of voice evident. "The owner of the land is a man named Micah Andreas. I sorted through the information we pulled of the charred hard drive from Maliqe's old residence. There was reference to a man named Micah; I'm assuming it's the same one."

"Where's the address?" Jack asked. If it had been any other CTU agent; Jack would have made them double check the information before sending him to an unknown address. But he trusted Chloe. And he trusted her judgment. He knew he would never send her somewhere unless she was sure it was correct. Chloe gave Jack the address and he typed it into his GPS. He radioed the agents in the SUV's following him back to CTU and told half of them to get back to headquarters and the rest to follow a half a mile behind him. He knew if he had any chance of scoping out this new address, he'd have to go in alone at first.

xxx

Danni refused to take a seat or a coffee or anything that Maliqe offered her. Her gun was almost burning a hole in her back; she was very aware of it. And although none of the men had given her a pat down, she had a feeling they knew she was armed. She was stupid not to think the same about all of them.

Rahjid finished transferring Danielle's money, a cool few million, and after Danni checked this on his computer and believed he'd done his job, she took the chip out of her pocket.

"Out of interest, who is William Matthews?" Maliqe asked her with a smirk.

Danni threw him the chip. "We're done here." She turned on her heel and headed for the door. "Enjoy your day of death."

She was halfway down the hall when the front door was kicked open and a man aiming a pistol crashed through. Danni flew into the living room and hid behind the couch as she heard the man's gun fire. She heard shots in the kitchen and knew he hadn't followed her. She turned and looked around the leg of the couch and saw this man shoot down Jonah. Danni couldn't see Maliqe or Rahjid and assumed they'd taken off out the back.

Danni got up and rushed towards the front door, but then she heard more shots and, since Jonah was down, knew that they must've come from Micah. Something in her heart told her to stop. If it had been her left there, Micah would've come back. At least she'd hoped he would. Danni listened and heard sounds of obvious scuffle coming from the kitchen.

Jack had stormed through this residence and immediately begun shooting. He'd seen someone hide in another room but the main action was going on in the kitchen so that's where he'd headed. Two men cleared out of the kitchen out the back door as soon as the gun went off. A heavy set man pulled out a gun and started shooting back at him but Jack hit him directly through the heart and he went down. The other man was more evasive and took cover by flipping over the table and ducking behind it. Jack emptied his gun into the table-shield and ducked behind a corner to reload. That was when his enemy struck.

Jack turned back to fire his gun and was kicked in the face. He reared back and felt this man stomp on his hand; forcing him to let go of his gun. His weapon was then kicked down the hall and Jack was grabbed up to his feet. He managed to punch the man in the chest and then tackled him to the ground. The man shoved Jack off his back and reached for his own gun but Jack grabbed his wrist and bent it backwards. The man swiftly turned and punched him in the jaw. Jack stumbled to the ground, holding his hand out to steady himself. He felt his fingers brush against something cool; the handle of a gun. He closed his fingers around it and jumped up only to be socked in the face by a leg of the table. Jack fell back and his head connected solidly with the wall. His vision blurred, Jack managed to lift the gun and shoot it.

Danni ran through the hall towards the kitchen when she heard the gunfire start again. Micah was leaning back against the refrigerator clutching his stomach while the man who'd barged into the house was slumped against the back wall looking disoriented. Danni ran to Micah and reached for him.

"Come on." She grabbed his arms, but they just fell limp in her grasp.

"Run." Micah muttered.

"No, no. Come on." Danni said. She heaved him to his feet and slung his arm over her shoulder.

Jack saw a woman come in and run over to the man he'd been fighting with, but he couldn't see her face. He was still a bit out of it from the fall. "I'm with the police. This place will be surrounded in a matter of minutes." Jack said boldly. "You run they'll kill you."

Danni turned and looked at the man slumped on the floor. Micah leant against her and she felt his blood seep into her clothing. Danni locked eyes with the man on the floor.

Those eyes.

Snapping out of it, Danni quickly moved through the back door towards her car. She could hear sirens in the distance as she lowered Micah into the backseat of her car. She pulled her laptop out of her bag as she slid into the drivers' seat. Starting the car, she swing left through the paddock and took off on a back trail. The same one she knew Maliqe and Rahjid had taken.

"What was that?" a tired voice said from the back seat. Micah was deteriorating--and fast.

"What?" Danni asked as she drove with one hand and started a search on her computer with the other.

"That man in the house." Micah asked.

Danni immediately thought back to that man. His voice was raspier. His face was older. But his eyes were the same.

"What are you doing?" Micah asked, seeing her laptop open for the first time.

"Running a search through every government agencies records." Danni told him. "I need to find out everything I can."

"About who?" Micah asked. Then he realized. "That man…you know him."

Danni couldn't believe it. "His name is Jack Bauer." She told Micah.

F


	3. Chapter 3

**CHAPTER THREE**

**Hour One**

**4:00-5:00**

The other CTU agents pulled up to the rundown house in the middle of the paddock. Agent Daniels led the charge into the house. He sent his men all around it to check f there was anyone on the premises. He himself went into the kitchen where he saw Jack getting to his feet and rubbing his head. He wore a look of disbelief as he stared at the opened door out of the kitchen.

"Agent Bauer?" Daniels spoke as he reached him. "Are you injured?"

"I'm fine." Jack told him.

"What happened?" Daniels eyed the dead man on the floor.

"I counted five hostiles." Jack told him. He pointed to the heavy set dead body. "Him, three other men, and a woman." Jack sighed. "Two men got away uninjured but I shot the other one. The woman came back for him."

"His wife? Girlfriend?" Daniels asked.

"No." Jack answered.

Daniels raised his eyebrows. "How can you be sure?"

"Because I know her." Jack said simply. Then he got out his phone and dialed CTU. Bill Buchannon answered.

"Yes?"

"Bill; its Jack. This case just entered a whole new realm of crazy. One of the hostiles was a woman and I know her." Jack said as he walked outside the house.

"What?" Bill said loudly. "Where from?

"I'm not sure but I remember her face." Jack told him. And that was true; he didn't remember who she was. But he knew her face. She had brilliant blue eyes that Jack remembered. And he knew this because he remembered thinking how beautiful they were the first time he saw them. Now they looked the same, yet different. _Probably because she'd just witnessed a shoot out, _Jack told himself.

"Well, do you know her from another case? Is she a criminal?" Bill asked urgently.

"I don't know, Bill." Jack replied. "Get Chloe to bring up everyone I've worked with in my career."

"Your career?" Bill asked. "Jack, that could take hours. You can't narrow it down?"

"She's American, early forties. Dark hair. Blue eyes." Jack listed.

"Jack, are you sure you know this woman?" Bill asked.

"Bill, I know her face. I've seen her." Jack promised. "Trust me on this."

Bill sighed. "Alright. Did you find Maliqe?"

"No, but I saw a man clear the scene who matched the description we got today." Jack told Bill.

"What about Micah Andreas?" Bill asked.

"I shot him in the chest." Jack informed Bill. "The woman helped him out. Unless she's a doctor he's gonna need medical attention or he'll die. Send a description of both of them to every hospital and medical centre in the city. Let me know what happens." Jack finished up.

"Wait, Jack." Bill stopped him. "Do I have cause to be concerned here? If this woman's from your past-"

"Bill, I can handle it." Jack said. Then he hung up.

xxx

When Danni got far enough away from the house to feel that she wasn't being followed, she pulled over at the nearest gas station. She filled up her car with gas and bought as many medical supplies as she could carry. She then drove further up the road and pulled over into a well concealed area and began to tend to Micah. He was sweating profusely as his body tried to fight what was happening to him. Danni moved Micah out of the car and leant him against the back wheel.

She poured the rubbing alcohol she'd just bought over the wound and then over her hands so he wouldn't get an infection. "This is bad, Micah." She told him honestly.

"You should've left me there." Micah told her, his voice shaking. "I would've left you."

Danni shook her head. "Shut up; no you wouldn't."

"You have to run, Danni." Micah said in a quiet voice. "I'm not going to get any better. And if you know that agent then he knows you. Maliqe has the chip; this city is dead. You need to get out of here."

Danni leant back and sighed. She reached into her pocket and pulled out the microchip, sans the plastic case. "He was never getting this. All he has is an empty case."

Micah laughed tiredly. "Another reason to stay in LA." He joked. "Why'd you do it then? I thought you didn't care about the money."

"I don't." Danni told him as she began bandaging the wound.

"Who is William?" Micah asked furrowing his brow. "An alias?"

"Never mind." Danni told him. "The bullet's still in your stomach." She bit her lip. "I can't get it out."

"Leave me." Micah told her earnestly. "You must. Destroy that chip and get the hell out of here."

"Shut up with that crap." Danni got to her feet and proceeded to heave Micah back into the car.

"I'll only slow you down." Micah protested. "How far will you get carrying a bleeding Iraqi?"

Danni ignored him and shut the door. She walked around the car to the driver's seat and couldn't help but feel like Micah was right. He was in bad shape. She knew basic first aid and had dealt with bullet wounds before but she wasn't a surgeon. There was no way she could help him. And she knew he was right; she had to get out of here. She had to find out how the hell Jack Bauer factored into all of this. But first she had to take care of her friend.

xxx

At CTU, Chloe was busy compiling records and photos of all the women Jack had come in contact with since he'd worked at CTU who matched the description he'd given Bill. It was tedious. She had Morris working on it, too, but it was still a long process.

Chloe trusted that Jack was telling the truth; that he did know this woman. But she was worried that delving into the past wouldn't help him in the case. It had taken Jack years to recover after Terri's death, his daughter, Kim, didn't speak to him after he faked his own death, he'd spent two years being tortured in a Chinese prison and had been kept away from his girlfriend Audrey by her father after she'd been brainwashed by the Chinese for coming to get Jack. That was _a lot_ of baggage. Chloe worried silently that Jack would somehow relive it all. He was a strong man, she knew that, but everyone had their limits.

xxx

As Jack drove back to CTU, he mentally went through all the places he could possibly have seen this woman. The fact that her name escaped him worried him slightly. Perhaps the time he'd spent being interrogated and tortured in China was affecting his memory. _No_, he assured himself. He definitely knew her eyes.

Jack pulled into the CTU parking lot alone. His team had stayed behind at the house to search for evidence but Jack needed to ID this woman. He locked his car and flashed his ID badge to the guard who let him right in.

Jack made his way upstairs and over to Chloe's desk. "Chloe, did you compile a list of suspects for me?"

"Jack, there are literally hundreds of women matching the very not specific description you gave me so it's gonna take awhile." Chloe told him not looking up from her screen. "I've had Morris set it up on your computer in your office. I'll send you updates every ten minutes."

"Thanks." Jack told her as he headed towards the stairs. He ascended them and saw Bill exiting his office. He met Jack on the landing.

"Jack." He saw how beat up Jack looked. He had a bruise on his head, a cut on his arm and looked all around like hell. "You need medical?"

"No, I'm fine." Jack told him. "Is President Palmer in the air?"

Bill nodded. "Yes. Air Force One took off a few minutes ago. I've informed him of our progress." Bill paused. "I omitted the fact that you claim to know one of the terrorists. I figure we should ID her first."

"I'm on it." Jack told him. Bill nodded as Jack walked into his office. Slinking off his coat, Jack tentatively sat in his chair. Always one for making his injuries seem better than they really were, Jack wallowed in the immense pain he was in for a few moments.

Then he started on the records Chloe had sent him. He skimmed every picture but managed to go through quickly since he knew what he was looking for; her eyes. Some of the faces he recognized, some he didn't, but none of them were the woman he'd seen earlier.

Before Jack knew it, he was getting an update from Chloe with even more pictures. He drew a breath and started looking again.

xxx

Danni pulled her car into a parking space towards the entrance of the hospital much to Micah's protest.

"Leave me, Danni. The police will find me here." Micah said, wincing as Danni moved his legs out of the car.

"So what if they do?" Danni said, wrapping his arm over her shoulder. "You won't tell them about me."

"Yes I will." Micah said as Danni hurriedly moved him towards the emergency entrance. Danni stopped. Micah looked up at her. The look in her eyes told her that he was lying; he wouldn't give her up. She moved on towards the entrance.

"Someone help!" She called as she moved through the doors.

Two nurses rushed out from behind the front desk. One pushed a wheelchair over.

"What happened?" A middle-aged female nurse asked as Danni lowered Micah into a chair.

"He was shot; once in the chest." Danni told them. She squeezed his hand.

The nurse pulled Micah's bandage away and inspected the wound. "He'll need surgery." She looked up. "How long ago…" she trailed off as she realized Danni was gone.

Danni scampered into her car and clicked the engine over. She glanced in the rearview mirror and saw Micah's blood all over her backseat. Wiping a stray tear from her eye, she pulled her car out of the hospital car park and left her friend behind.

xxx

Now with a coffee buzz, Jack was searching through the photos of them women quite easily. Still with no one even resembling the woman he'd seen, Jack was slightly losing patience. Three years ago, he'd have remembered. Leaning back in his chair, Jack glanced at the photos on his desk. He wasn't one for personal possessions but seeing as he'd lost Terri, Kim wasn't talking to him and he didn't know where Audrey was; photos were all he had.

There was one of Jack, Terri and Kim together a few years before she'd died; one of Jack and Audrey when they'd taken a vacation in Maui, one of Tony Almeida and Michelle Dessler, two good friends of Jack who'd been killed a few years ago and a picture of Kim the day she graduated. He remembered that day because he wasn't sure she'd finish high school. She'd lost her mother in her final year. Jack was so proud of her. Then she'd gone on to be an Au Pair for a few years before giving it up on another day where L.A. had been threatened by terrorists.

Jack liked that photo because it reminded him of the normalcy that his life used to hold. Before bomb threats, torture and terrorists; he'd been a family man. Then, all of a sudden, Jack knew. He knew where he'd seen that woman before. He knew why he remembered her eyes. And Chloe could search every record of every woman Jack had been in contact with throughout his career and never find her. He'd met her long before then.

xxx

The hospital was only minutes from Danni's house so she was able to go home and change. She cleaned the blood out of the car as best she could and then set about cleaning herself. She didn't realize she'd gotten hurt; all the adrenaline that was pumping through her veins back at the house numbed her from it. She'd hit her head at some point, her back ached from lugging Micah around and she had numerous scratches from broken glass and splintered wood.

Danni patched herself up, took another shower, re-dressed into clean jeans and a black singlet and went to check on her computer. Before she'd showered, she'd set up a search on it for Jack Bauer. She hadn't spoken to him in almost twenty years but she remembered him well. And she knew he remembered her. She saw it in the way he looked at her. There was recognition in his eyes but he hadn't called her name or followed them out of the house. _Maybe he couldn't place me_, Danni thought to herself.

She discovered that Jack worked for a branch of the government called CTU, the Counter Terrorist Unit. They worked very close to the President from what she knew; but she hadn't had dealings with them in the past. That explained why Jack was at the house with Maliqe; they knew he was a terrorist. Which meant they also knew that there was some kind of attack planned for the next day; a little fact Maliqe had failed to mention to Danni. Normally he would have told her if they were being watched, but she assumed her didn't expect her to leave that house alive. Although nothing would be going ahead since she still had the chip in her possession. She'd practiced taking it out of the plastic case while it was in her pocket for about a week before today and was slightly disappointed she couldn't brag about it to anyone.

Danni also found information on Jack's private life. He'd been married but his wife had been murdered almost ten years before. He had a daughter, Kimberly, in her twenties. And he'd died five years before. That was why Danni was so terrified when she saw him. Jack Bauer had been killed in the line of duty five years ago. Danni remembered the day she'd read that in the paper. It literally made her heart sink. She'd gone to his memorial and hung in the back so as not to draw attention to herself.

While searching, Danni discovered that the reason Jack had faked his own death was in order to save his life. That ended up backfiring as he arrested by the Chinese eighteen months later and kept in their capture for two years. He'd certainly had a life. He was so different than Danni thought he would turn out to be. Then she remembered she'd been looking at her yearbook the night before and chuckled. It was almost foreshadowing. She'd been dreaming about her prom date. And now he was back.

xxx

"You took her to the prom?" Bill asked Jack quizzically.

"Yes. Her name is Danni Carter." Jack told him. "We went to high school together. She was my girlfriend. We lost touch after graduation. I joined the army and she went to college."

"Sweet, really, but we need to address the fact that she's a terrorist." Bill pushed on.

"She is not a terrorist." Jack said confidently.

"Oh please, you can't believe that." Bill scoffed. "She was with members of a known terrorist group. She helped one of them escape. She left you behind."

"I know this girl." Jack started.

"You _knew_ this girl." Bill corrected him. "High school was when, thirty years ago? People change." Jack didn't reply. "Chloe do a search?"

Jack nodded. "Unmarried, no kids, used to live just out of city. Her parents are dead and she's an only child. She used to work at a computer software company but that closed down six years ago. No record of work after that."

"Last known address?"

"Unknown yet; Chloe's on it." Jack told him. "I'll get down there as soon as she finds it."

"No, you're taking yourself off this case." Bill told him.

Jack stood up angrily. "What?!"

"You don't think she's a terrorist when every thing we have says she is." Bill told him. "You're compromised."

"No I'm not." Jack told him. "Bill, I don't think she's a terrorist. But if she is, I have no problem with taking her down." He sighed. "You're right; I only know what I remember. And obviously she isn't that person anymore."

Bill drew a breath. "Any slip ups. _Any_. I'll take you off this case and you're suspended."

"Done." Jack agreed. He left Bill's office and went downstairs. Morris met him at the bottom.

"Jack. I got a call a few minutes ago from L.A. public hospital, a man matching Micah Andreas description was brought in about fifteen minutes ago." Morris informed Jack. "He's in surgery. The nurse I spoke to said he was brought in by a gorgeous brunette with blue eyes." Morris handed Jack a photo taken from the surveillance camera footage in the hospital's emergency entrance. Jack took the photo from Morris. That was her; that was Danni. She looked weathered and frightened but she looked the same.

Morris raised an eyebrow. "Your prom date, I believe."


	4. Chapter 4

**CHAPTER FOUR**

**Hour Two**

**5:00-6:00**

Jack went down the hospital alone as soon as he'd heard Micah Andreas was out of surgery. He was told it was a simple bullet extraction procedure but that the danger was internal bleeding. The point was that he was awake and Jack was going to talk to him and find out where Danni was.

It had been so long since he'd thought about her. They'd dated all through their final year of high school. Saying goodbye to her when he went to the army was the hardest thing Jack had ever had to do. At least up until that time. She was his first love and now he might have to kill her. _That's my life_, Jack thought to himself. In his career he'd had to kill too many friends for the sake of his job. He'd lost family and colleagues so murdering his high school sweetheart would just be the icing on the terribly depressing cake.

He parked at the hospital and went inside. The nurse at the front desk directed him to Micah's room. There was a police officer standing guard out the front of it, hospital protocol, and after a quick talk to Jack he let him on through.

Jack picked up a chair and turned it around, straddling it. The sound of the movement caused Micah to open his eyes.

Micah narrowed his eyes. "You're the one who shot me." he said wearily.

"Mr. Andreas, my name is Jack Bauer." Jack told him. "I'm an agent with the Counter Terrorist Unit."

"I won't tell you where she is." Micah said immediately.

Jack raised his eyebrows. "Danni?"

Micah looked slightly put off. "You call her Danni." He sighed. "She doesn't let most people do that."

"You're right, I am looking for her." Jack told him. "Give her up and I can probably cut you a deal."

"No." Micah told him.

Jack watched the man for a moment. "You love her?" Jack asked.

"Not like that." Micah told him tiredly. "She saved my life."

Jack understood. "You owe her."

"I'm going to die, Agent Bauer." Micah admitted. "I'm bleeding into my stomach; they can't stop it. Why should I take her down with me? What good would it do?"

"It could save Los Angeles. We know you're planning to set off a bomb on the President's visit to the city tomorrow." Jack informed Micah.

"I assumed as much when you shot me." Micah said. Then he smirked jadedly. "But I'll tell you this; LA is safe unless they find her."

"They?" Jack asked. "You mean Maliqe Shiraz and Al-Haeq."

"Yes." Micah sighed. "Maliqe and my brother are who you should be searching for."

"Your brother?" Jack asked.

"Rahjid Andreas. My elder brother." Micah explained. "He's Maliqe's right hand man and he has it in for Danni."

"Why are they after her?" Jack inquired.

Micah was silent and closed his eyes. Jack leant in closer to him. "We know about the bomb. We know that it needs a chip to be activated and that this chip is out there. What's Danni's involvement?"

Micah opened his eyes. "She has the chip." He admitted. "If they find her with it they will kill her. And it won't be quick; they punish those that betray."

"Where is she?" Jack asked more urgently.

"She's not a terrorist." Micah said confidently. "She was to trade the chip for payment. She tricked them; hid the chip. Maliqe is not one to be played a fool. He was furious about having to trust a woman when we first hired her."

"_Where is she_?" Jack asked again in a hushed but extremely serious voice.

"She won't admit she needs help." The heart monitor beside Micah began to beep as he started to breath heavily. His voice became wearier as a doctor rushed into the room. "Help her...help her..."

The doctor pushed Jack out of the way but Jack leant over to Micah's head and spoke as clearly as he could. "Micah, I promise you I will help her. But you have to tell me where she is."

"Shepp...ard" Micah muttered.

"What?" Jack leaned in closer.

"She...Sheppard." Micah said again.

"Sheppard?" Jack repeated. It took him a second but he knew what that meant. It was odd how his memory of that time in his life was getting better by the minute as he kept thinking about his time with Danni. Jack turned back to Micah but his eyes closed and the heart monitor began to beep one, long, monotonous tone.

Jack backed away. The doctor looked up at him. "He bled into his lungs. There was nothing we could do." She glanced up at the clock. "Time of death; five-o-nine pm." The doctor turned off the monitor and turned towards Jack. "Who's Sheppard?" she asked to an empty room. Jack had already gone.

He hurried out of the hospital to use his cell phone. He rang Chloe. "Chloe, its Jack. Micah Andreas is dead." He reached his car and climbed in. "I need you to search for any properties in LA under the name Grace Sheppard."

"Okay." Chloe said. "And who the hell is that?"

"She's Danni's mother. She died a few years ago but I need you to check if there is any residence in her name." Jack waited on line while he heard Chloe tapping away at her computer.

"Alright, I have a house belonging to a Grace Sheppard. It's only about five minutes from the hospital. Sixteen, Ark Street." Chloe told Jack.

"Thanks." Jack hung up his phone and sped out of the hospital.

xxx

Danni took two aspirin and went to lie on her couch. She was worried about Micah. She couldn't go back to that hospital. The cops would be all over it. The house she was in was under her mother's maiden name, Sheppard, so she figured she'd be safe for awhile.

Pulling the chip out of her pocket, Danni fiddled with it in her hands. She was dead if Maliqe found her with this little thing. She'd ruined his plan. Although, that had always been _her_ plan. If Jack hadn't come barging through the door firing away it may have worked. She would've gotten on the plane and been on her way to New York. But that flight was leaving at six. It was after five; she was never going to make it. And she wouldn't be able to anymore. As soon as Jack remembered Danni, her face would be plastered all over everywhere. From what she'd read on Jack, he was the best agent at CTU and came highly recommended by President's Wayne and David Palmer.

Danni closed her eyes to get just a few moments to recover when she faintly heard a door open. It took her a minute to realize that familiar squeak as her own back door and sat bolt upright. Someone was in her house. Her gun was sitting on her desk in the other room so she moved swiftly off of the couch to retrieve it. She'd reloaded it when she got home so she held it in her hand and headed towards the back door. She reached it and it was wide open. There was no one to be seen.

"Betrayal is a sin." A bitter voice said from behind her. Danni turned fast. Rahjid was pointing a gun at her head.

"He's got you doing his dirty work for him now, huh?" Danni retorted.

"I was more than happy to oblige." Rahjid told her, taking a step towards her. "Gun down, Danielle." He smiled. Danni swallowed and dropped her gun. "Good. Now, the chip?"

Danielle smirked. "How long did it take before you knew it wasn't there?"

"If the police hadn't barged in when they did you'd have been dead before you left that house." Rahjid told her. "Maliqe was never going to let you leave."

"Ah, just like I was never going to give him that chip." Danni smirked again. "It's a shame he's a terrorist; we're perfect for each other. Conniving, devious, and we both hate you."

"Shut up." Rahjid spat, rearranging his grip on his gun. "You were lucky just to get out of there. You're a loose end, Danielle."

"Then why did he pay me?" Danni asked genuinely curious. If he planned on killing her, what was the point?

"It was two million dollars. Maliqe finds that kind of change in his car." Rahjid almost laughed. "It'll sit in a bank, collect interest; we show up in a few years and take it back. It's just good business."

"What about Micah?" Danni brought up. "You abandoned your brother. He's dying, did you know that?" She was glad to see this affected Rahjid at least in a minute way. She saw a flash of fear, or perhaps worry, glaze over his face. "And you left him behind."

"Regrettable. But Micah knew the dangers of this work when he signed on." Rahjid recited.

Danni snapped. "He did not! He was a kid when you got him into this! He didn't know what he was doing! This is your fault!"

"Shut up!" Rahjid yelled. He rushed up to Danni and grabbed her by the back of her hair. He pushed his gun into her throat. "I loved my brother."

"Not as much as you love kissing Maliqe's ass." Danni said. Then she suddenly broke out in laughter. Perhaps because she knew that Rahjid was going to kill her.

Danni heard a gun fire and didn't feel any pain. She always assumed that's what death was like. But when Rahjid hunched to the floor and started screaming, grabbing his calf in pain, Danni realized she wasn't the one who'd been shot. Her eyes drifted up and she saw someone at the end of the hall lowering a gun. Jack Bauer was standing in Danni's doorway.


	5. Chapter 5

**CHAPTER FIVE**

**Hour Two**

**5:00-6:00**

Danni and Jack stared at each other for a few seconds, just like they had when they first met up in the house earlier. But Jack quickly recovered and aimed his gun at her. "Get your hands up." He told her sternly.

Doing as he said, Danni raised both her arms and didn't say anything. She didn't know what _to_ say. What are the right words to tell your old high school boyfriend when he's obviously found out your working with terrorists?

Rahjid was writhing on the floor in agony, blood spilling all over Danni's floor. Jack walked towards both of them. Keeping his gun pointed at Danni he removed a set of handcuffs from his pocket. He jabbed the gun towards the banister on the staircase, indicating for Danni to move over there. She did without a word of protest.

"You don't have to cuff me, y'know." Danni said as Jack took her hands, threaded them through the bars and cuffed them on the other side.

"Don't talk." Jack told her firmly.

Danni chose to comply for now; he was the one with the gun after all.

Jack pocketed his gun in the back of his jeans and proceeded to grab Rahjid by the collar and pull him to his feet. The injured man screamed in protest as Jack moved him into the living room. He tossed Rahjid onto the couch.

"You're gonna start talking now." Jack told him with a smirk.

"I won't tell you anything." Rahjid spat at Jack through gritted teeth. "You may as well kill me now."

Jack chucked evilly. "I'll kill you when I'm done." He told him. Rahjid leant back on the couch and clutched his bleeding calf.

"He's right, y'know." Danni's voice called from the hallway.

Jack walked over and stood in the doorway so he could watch them both. "What?"

"That man loves Maliqe." Danni shook her head. "Hell, he left his own brother behind to save him. He won't talk."

"We'll see." Jack looked away from Danni and back at Rahjid. He walked over to the injured man. "CTU are on their way. You'll be taken back to our headquarters and interrogated."

"I'm not the one you should be talking to." Rahjid said hoarsely. "She's the one with the chip."

"Agent Bauer?" called Agent Daniels from the doorway. Moments later, he and about ten other CTU agents stormed into the home in bullet proof vests and helmets with their guns drawn. They all separated and moved to different parts of the house.

"You've _got_ to be kidding me." Danni muttered as two men ran upstairs.

Jack met Agent Daniels at the front door. "Rahjid Andreas is injured in the other room." Jack told him. "Take him to medical at CTU."

"Yes sir." Daniels nodded. He motioned to two other agents and they went into the living room. Daniels eyed Danni cuffed to the staircase. "What about her?"

"I'll take care of it." Jack said. Daniels nodded again and followed his fellow agents into the living room. Jack headed down the hallway to Danni.

"What happens now?" Danni asked as Jack came towards her.

"Where's the chip?" Jack asked her. He had expected it to be slightly weird to see Danni again under these circumstances, but he didn't realize _how_ weird. She looked fantastic and all Jack wanted to do was talk to her, but he had a job to do. She was the enemy; at least until Jack could prove otherwise.

Danni sighed. "In my right front pocket." She told him.

Jack reached into Danni's jeans pocket. He felt her twitch as he touched her. His fingers clasped something and he pulled out the microchip. "This will activate the bomb?"

"That's my understanding of it." Danni told him, blowing a stray hair out of her face. "And Maliqe is gonna be pissed. If he finds me with this; he'll kill me."

Jack watched Danni for a moment. He clasped the chip in his palm and thought for a second. She was right; Maliqe would be after her to get this back. Then he'd have no way of tracking down the bomb.

Agent Daniels came up to Jack. "We did a sweep, there's no one else here." Daniels eyed Danni. "Should we go back to CTU?"

"Take Rahjid back." Jack told him. "Let Buchannon know what's going on and tell him I'll contact him."

Agent Daniels glanced between Jack and Danni once more before signaling to his team to exit the home. They dragged a yelping Rahjid Andreas with them.

Danni waited until they were all gone. Then she looked quizzically at Jack. "Why didn't you tell him about the chip?"

"Maliqe Shiraz is plotting to detonate a bomb in Los Angeles tomorrow. And I know you already knew that." Jack told her. "The only way we can keep the city safe is if we keep this chip away from him. I take it back to CTU then he knows he can't get it; there'll be no way of finding him. He'll pick up the pieces and try again."

"So what do you suggest?" Danni asked.

Jack held the chip in front of Danni's face. "You're going to help me find him."

xxx

Maliqe Shiraz knew Rahjid hadn't succeeded. He was meant to contact him when he had the chip and he hadn't. This meant he was either dead or in custody. Either way; Maliqe could no longer use him. He'd lost three men that evening already; one of his most loyal in Rahjid. He had many more men from Al-Haeq that he could use to help get this bomb out there the next day, but at that moment his focus was on Danielle. She'd played him for a fool and gotten away with it. Now she had her payment and the chip.

Maliqe never felt Danielle was truly committed to his cause and what had happened in the last hour proved that. Micah was the one who'd insisted on bringing her in; he claimed she was the best in her field. She worked in a software company and was able to manipulate a form of it for the bomb. She had; it had felt too good to be true for Maliqe; and it turned out he was right.

All that mattered to Maliqe now was where to go next. He fully intended to go through with his plan to detonate the bomb the next day. After he and Rahjid had cleared out of Micah's home; they'd traveled back to the apartment they were using as a temporary base. From there, Rahjid had gone to deal with Danielle and Maliqe had said he'd wait for his call. When that call didn't come, Maliqe had packed up what he could and was now on the road to site B; where the bulk of Al-Haeq was waiting. Maliqe intended to proceed with his plan. As long as they got the chip before he planned on setting off the bomb; nothing would change.

xxx

Jack uncuffed Danni and led her to her dining room. He sat her down at a chair and sat at the table across from her. "What the hell happened, Danni?" Jack asked her slowly. "How'd you get into this?"

"How did you find me?" Danni asked, ignoring his question. "You never came to this house."

"Grace Sheppard?" Jack raised his eyebrows. "Your mother's maiden name; you never liked it. That's why you kept your father's name; Carter."

"Huh." Danni leant back, impressed. "Clever."

"My turn." Jack said. "When did Maliqe hire you?"

"He didn't." Danni told him. "Micah did. I worked with him at Computer Alliance before they closed down six years ago." Danni's heart immediately filled with fear. "Wait, Micah. He told you where I was."

Jack nodded solemnly. "Yes."

"You saw him? Is he okay? Did he have surgery? Was he arrested?" Danni asked hurriedly.

Jack looked down and his hands. "Danni…"

Danni knew that tone. That sympathetic, gentle voice her mother had used when she told her that her father had died in a car accident. The voice the doctor had used when her mother succumbed to cancer. Micah had died. Slamming her hands on the table, Danni got up and walked over to her desk. She rested her hands on her desk chair and hung her head.

"I'm sorry." Jack told her sympathetically. He took a second before continuing. "He told me you needed help." Danni turned around at that statement. Jack saw tears in her eyes but she blinked them back, as if she didn't want him to see her in a weak moment.

"I don't need help." Danni told him. "And I especially don't need it from you." She pushed off the desk and walked into the hall. "Take your damn chip and get out."

"I can't." Jack got to his feet and followed her. "You think Maliqe will stop coming after you if he has this?" Jack held the chip up to her. "I've seen this before; too many times."

"What am I supposed to do?" Danni asked quietly.

"Call Maliqe. Tell him Rahjid was arrested but you made it out." Jack told her. "Tell him you want more money and you want to meet him face to face to make the trade."

Danni shook her head. "He won't buy it."

"Make him." Jack said forcefully.

"Jack, the next time that man sees me--he'll kill me." Danni told Jack. "I cheated him out of two million dollars! The second I walk in there he's gonna shoot me in the head without a thought."

"I won't let that happen." Jack promised.

Danni gave him a withering look. "Come on. We both know that's a lie. You'd sell your mother down the river if it'd benefit this country. Just because we have history, very ancient history, doesn't mean you won't let him kill me." She walked off down the hallway towards the kitchen.

"Maybe." Jack admitted as he followed her. "But right now I'm the only chance you got."

Danni stopped. He was right. If she truly was dead either way, and in her mind that was a certain fact, then having Jack on her side couldn't be a bad thing. Except she didn't believe he _was_ on her side.

Seeing Danni stop gave Jack a glimmer of hope that maybe she'd agree. "If they're going to kill you then what's the harm in letting me help?" he said.

Danni turned around to face him. _That is _exactly_ what I was thinking_, she thought to herself, wondering momentarily if he could read her mind. Dismissing her own stupidity, she spoke up. "It's not that easy."

"Look, I have to take you back to CTU first anyway." Jack told her. "If you help us get Maliqe and his men it's the only way you can cut yourself a deal and maybe get out of all this."

Danni looked at Jack intently. She hadn't seen the man in twenty-five years and now here he was offering to help her. All he knew about her was that she'd been working with terrorists and had in her possession all that was needed to blow up Los Angeles in a few hours time. _Is he playing me?_, she asked herself. She didn't know. It was a good gag if that's what he was doing. "What if I don't?" Danni asked.

"You'll be arrested, taken into custody and charged with crimes against this country." Jack told her. "And there's no coming back from that."

"Well, then," Danni sighed. "I guess we better get moving."


	6. Chapter 6

_Just a little warning I figured I should put in here. This chapter contains some violent scenes especially when the torture part starts so be warned and please do not read if you think you'll be offended. Thanks xox_

**CHAPTER SIX**

**Hour Two**

**5:00-6:00**

"**The Interrogation"**

Danni and Jack sat in silence as he drove them back to CTU. Danni had a lot of questions to ask him. Like how he planned to hide the microchip from CTU. As far as she knew, it was still in his pocket. She figured he was just going to lie but that may not work out so great for her if his people thought she was hiding it.

"When we get to CTU, they're going to want to interrogate you." Jack spoke up suddenly. He kept his eyes on the road. "I'll do what I can to stress to them that you're our best chance to find Maliqe."

Danni simply nodded. She knew there was nothing she could say to get Jack on her side. She could blurt out her whole sad story to him; how she'd been recruited by Al-Haeq, what they'd done to her and her family, every little depressing detail; and he still wouldn't change his opinion. Granted she hadn't seen him in over two decades, but she hoped somewhere inside he was still the same man; the first man she'd fallen in love with.

Jack eyed Danni in his peripheral as they neared CTU. He had to prove to Bill Buchannon that he wasn't compromised with this case, that he could keep it professional and treat Danni like any other alleged terrorist. But seeing her again, seeing her eyes and her face, just reminded Jack of his time with her. They'd dated for just over a year. After he'd left for the army, he found it hard to ever get back to see her since he was being relocated every couple of weeks. He'd spent those earlier years, before he met Terri, wondering what Danni was doing, if she was married or had children, or even if she'd graduated college. He couldn't just ask her; it wasn't that simple. He had to keep in his mind that he may have to sacrifice Danni today for the sake of the country. But the more time he spent with her, the more that fact was becoming harder to accept.

xxx

Agent Daniels had taken Rahjid Andreas to the medical sector of CTU but he'd been released almost immediately. Jack knew how to shoot a clean wound. And after some bandaging and a slight dose of painkillers, Rahjid was sitting, albeit uncomfortably, in Interrogation Room One. Daniels was under orders to wait for Jack before starting the questioning so he was waiting behind the one sided mirror, watching Rahjid.

Entering CTU at that moment were Danni and Jack. He led her by her elbow straight to Interrogation Room Two. He sat her at one of the chairs behind the desk.

"I have to cuff you." Jack said as he handcuffed Danni's wrists together through the arm of the chair. "I'll be back soon." Jack told her. "Just sit tight."

"Okay." Danni nodded. She gently pulled at the handcuffs; they were just tight enough to keep her in the one place. Danni hated sitting still so being forced to do it was like torture. She smirked at the irony in that she was most likely about to _be_ tortured.

Jack left Interrogation Room Two and met up with Bill Buchannon who was coming down the stairs.

"Jack." Bill greeted him. "Nice work. Daniels informed me you didn't recover the chip."

"No." Jack lied, suddenly very aware that the chip was in the back pocket of his jeans. "But I think Danni is the way to finding it."

"I agree." Bill nodded. "I'm sending in Agent Harris to question her. You go in to Rahjid." Bill began to walk away.

Jack pulled him back by his shoulder. "Wait, Bill, I'd prefer to interrogate Danni." Jack said firmly. "I told you I could do this; that my personal life would have no effect on the-"

"This isn't about you, Jack." Bill shot him down. "Danielle is the lesser of two evils right now. Rahjid was second to Maliqe and you are our best interrogator. That's where you need to be."

Jack looked away from Bill towards Interrogation Room Two. Agent Harris showed no mercy. Jack knew this because he'd trained him. He knew what Harris was capable of and he didn't want it to get that far with Danni. Otherwise he would never find Maliqe. At least, that's what he told himself was the reason.

"Jack." Bill spoke up sternly. "Is this going to be a problem?"

Jack looked back at Bill. "No, sir." He promised. "Not at all." With that he walked away from Bill towards Interrogation Room One. Just as he was about to enter the room, he saw Agent Harris heading towards Interrogation Room Two with a case of what Jack knew were the implements of torture CTU preferred. Dismissing the sudden worry for Danni that entered his mind; Jack pushed through the door to Rahjid.

Jack eyed Rahjid up and down as he closed the door behind him. The injured man looked up at him with menacing eyes as Jack walked slowly into the room.

"How's the leg?" Jack smirked.

Rahjid glared in reply but didn't speak.

Jack leant on the table Rahjid was sitting at and spoke in a low voice. "This is going to be extremely painful. So the sooner you tell us what we need to know; the sooner you'll get out of here."

Rahjid let out a maniacal chuckle and shook his head. "You best pull up a chair for yourself, then."

xxx

Danni tried to play it as cool as she could while the man who introduced himself as Agent Harris set up his equipment. Equipment Danni knew he was preparing to use on her. Jack had said he would be right back but he was nowhere to be seen. Had he just said that to throw her off? Was he just standing on the other side of that mirror watching as she was about to be tortured? She hadn't seen that coming.

"Danielle Carter." Agent Harris said. "You are being held under suspicion of crimes against the United States of America. For that I have been authorized to retrieve the answers we need from you by any means necessary. " He took out a needle and vial of clear liquid from his collection. "Where is Maliqe Shiraz?"

"I don't know." Danni answered. That wasn't a total lie; she didn't know exactly where he was. Maliqe like to move around a lot. He thought getting too comfortable was dangerous. All Danni knew was that he had a few places around LA, but she didn't know where and had never been to them. Agent Harris didn't respond but Danni knew he didn't believe her. Hell, _she_ wouldn't have believed her.

Harris made a point of injecting the needle into the vial and filling the syringe in front of Danni's eyes. "Do you know what this is?" he asked her. She shook her head in reply. "It attacks the nerves all over your body and causes them to spasm. That coupled with the heat from the lamps in here will make you feel like your skin is on fire. A dose of this size will cause this burning to last for two minutes." Harris moved closer to Danni and pulled her right arm out so the inside of her elbow was facing up. "I'll add more to it until you answer my question. One more chance." Harris lined up the needle with Danni's elbow. "Where is Maliqe Shiraz?"

Danni looked up at Agent Harris. "I only know where he was." She told him. "And you had your people storm Micah's home." She emphasized every following word. "I don't know where he is."

"I'm sorry to hear that." Agent Harris said, not sounding at all remorseful. Then he plunged the needle into Danni's arm.

xxx

Rahjid was in bad shape but he still wasn't talking. Jack was inflicting maximum pain with minimum force. He'd broken two of Rahjid's fingers on one hand and two on the other and he'd poured salt into his bullet wound. Though he was writhing in agony, Rahjid would still not give Jack any information.

Jack grabbed Rahjid by the back of the head and pulled him back. "How do you want this to end?" he asked under his breath. Rahjid only responded with ragged breaths. "Do you think Maliqe would go through all this to save your ass? He'd give you up in a second and you know it."

"I pledged my life to his cause." Rahjid stammered through shallow breaths. "You will not break me."

"Everyone has a breaking point." Jack told him, letting go of Rahjid's head and grabbing his wrist. His other hand, with three shattered fingers, lay limp at the side of his body. Jack slammed Rahjid's hand open on the table and pulled a knife from his pocket. Jack held the knife above Rahjid's hand. "Where do I find Maliqe?"

Rahjid looked Jack dead in the eye. "Do it." He spat.

Anger filling Jack's throat, he didn't hesitate, and stabbed the knife through Rahjid's hand. The man hollered out loud as Jack retracted the weapon and his blood spilled all over the table and onto the floor. The door to the room opened and two men entered. One who was a chemical torturer, like Agent Harris, and one who was a medic; hired to keep the enemy alive while his fellow agent inflicted the pain. Jack stood back. These men entering the room meant Bill had been watching and Jack had gone too far; at least for the time being. Rahjid was no good to CTU dead; although he wasn't exactly proving all that helpful.

Jack exited the room while the medic tended to Rahjid's wounds and headed to the men's room. Jack washed the blood of his hands, literally, and took a moment to just breathe. He didn't have long before Morris came in.

"Hey mate." He said as he headed to the urinal.

"Hey." Jack replied, leaning against the basin.

"Your man Rahjid has seen better days." Morris said. "I take it he didn't give anything up about his boss."

"No." Jack admitted dejectedly. "I'll keep trying."

Morris finished up and joined Jack at the sink. "Jack, I don't want to overstep my bounds here, but what's the deal with you and Danielle Carter?"

Jack narrowed his eyes at Morris's reflection. "What do you mean?"

"I don't know about you, but with my first girlfriend, I was infatuated. We broke up when I was nineteen and I thought about her for years." Morris said. "I get it, you know? You can't just stop-"

"Look, I appreciate your concern." Jack interrupted him, moving away from the sink. "But there's no cause for it."

Morris nodded. "Alright, then." With that Jack left the bathroom leaving Morris wondering if he'd caused more damage than he intended.

xxx

Danni jolted back into consciousness only to discover that she was still cuffed to that chair in the interrogation room. She'd blacked out during Agent Harris's last round of chemically induced torture. He was standing at the end of the table removing sharp, metal tools from his case. Danni's head lolled back as she tried to stay awake. Her body felt exhausted and all she wanted to do was sleep. _Where the hell is Jack?_

"Come on, Danielle." Agent Harris was saying in a taunting voice. "You might think you can't hang on but believe me; I can make you."

Bill and Chloe were both behind the one way glass watching the whole scenario play out. Chloe had been unsettled for the last few minutes. She'd been doing this job long enough to know what needed to be done to break a person, but watching Danni deteriorate before her eyes disturbed Chloe. And the fact that she was watching it happen made Chloe feel worse.

"How long are we going to let this happen?" Chloe asked Bill.

"Until she tells us where Maliqe is." Bill said formally, as if trying to justify it in his own mind.

"Or until she's killed." Chloe countered.

"She knows what to do to make it stop." Bill assured Chloe, or perhaps himself.

Jack entered the room with Bill and Chloe unsure of what he'd see on the other side of the glass. What he saw shocked even the unshakable Jack Bauer. Danni was half-slumped over the table and looked as though she'd been drenched in the rain from sweating. Agent Harris was lifting up the back of her shirt and had a scalpel in his hand.

"Bill." Jack said as he entered the room. "What're you doing?"

"Our job, Jack." Bill answered.

"Stop this." Jack told him. "She is our only lead to Maliqe. We need her to find this bomb."

"Then she'll talk." Bill told him.

An ear piercing cry silenced them both as Agent Harris cut into Danni's back.

"I don't know where he is!" She screamed. "How can I tell you what I don't know?!" Danni looked into the glass but all she saw was her own sorrowful expression staring back at her.

"Bill, he's going to kill her!" Jack's voice rose. "You can't justify that!" he watched Bill as he viewed what was going on in the other room. Jack glanced at Chloe who seemed as disturbed as Jack felt. "Bill!"

Danni's scream rang once more through the rooms as Agent Harris again plunged the scalpel into her back.

"Dammit, Bill!" Jack stormed out of the room and barged into the interrogation room.

Danni was sobbing but trying to keep her composure. "Stop this." Jack said firmly to Agent Harris.

The agent looked towards the glass, as if awaiting Bill's orders. When no objection came, Agent Harris moved away from Danni. Jack removed the handcuff keys from his pocket and proceeded to release Danni. She slumped over into Jack as he pulled her up out of the chair.

Jack looked down at Danni's depreciating body. "I need a medic." he called. "I need a medic!"


	7. Chapter 7

**CHAPTER SEVEN**

**Hour Three**

**6:00-7:00**

Jack stayed behind with Bill while Danni was taken down to the medical station.

"The effects of the drug should wear off in an hour or so." Bill assured Jack.

"I told you she was our lead to Maliqe and to the bomb." Jack said in a warning tone. "Why did you proceed with the interrogation?"

"Finding this chip and stopping the bomb are the only things that matter to me." Bill answered back in a more threatening tone. "Don't tell me how to do my job, Jack."

"Then I need you to let me do mine." Jack told Bill decisively.

Bill sighed, knowing that, as much as he didn't want to admit it, Jack was right. And he was the best agent CTU had. Though in the past he'd sometimes gone against CTU protocol, he always did what was best; no matter what. That was one fact that had never wavered in the whole time Bill had known Jack.

"Alright, Jack." Bill conceded. "Take Danni as soon as she's released and let her know that this is her only way out."

"Thank you, sir."

xxx

Danni woke up in the medical section of CTU with an IV in her arm. She felt a lot better than she had not ten minutes before. Whatever was in the fluid being injected into her arm was certainly doing its job.

A man in a lab coat was pressing some buttons on the machine near Andie's head. "You're in our medical centre. I'm Doctor Bradley." He said. "We had to stabilize your fluids. The effects of the drug will be out of your system in an hour. Two at most."

Before the doctor could say anything else, Jack entered the room. "Hey Doc." He said. He nodded towards Danni. "Can you give us a minute?"

"Of course." Dr. Bradley made one final note on his clip board and hung it off the end of Danni's bed as he exited the room.

Jack walked up to Danni's bed. She looked a lot better than she'd looked not ten minutes before when he'd pulled her out of that interrogation room.

"Hey." She said to him as she pulled herself up further on the bed.

"How're you feeling?" Jack asked.

"Crappy." Danni answered truthfully. "But I'll be fine." She shrugged it off. "What happens now?"

"I have to take you to find the chip." Jack said with an air of humor. "But seeing as we both know it's in my pocket; we'll be going straight for Maliqe."

"I don't know where he is, Jack." Danni said in a soft voice. "I wasn't lying."

"I know." Jack didn't know if she believed him. He didn't know if he believed himself. But she'd always been honest with him. And had been so far today. "We proceed with our original plan. Call Maliqe and ask him for more money for the chip. We'll meet up with him and make the trade."

Danni had a thought. "But, wait, am I just handing him over the chip? Because LA will not thank you for that."

"It won't get that far." Jack assured her. "Maliqe will be in custody before he even lays eyes on the chip."

"When do we leave?" Danni asked expectantly.

Jack pulled back the covers of her bed and reached for her hand. "Right now."


	8. Chapter 8

**CHAPTER EIGHT**

**Hour Three**

**6:00-7:00**

Danni changed into a CTU regulation outfit consisting of black track pants and a black zip up jacket. Seeing as all her clothes were stained with sweat and blood, Jack was kind enough to give her something clean to wear. The two of them were back in Jack's SUV heading for Danni's mother's home. Danni knew of only one way to contact Maliqe. He had issued her a non-traceable cell phone with which she had to type in two codes to get a hold of him. Danni told this to Jack so he talked it over with his boss and they agreed that the phone call would be made from Danni's home and the two of them would proceed to meet Maliqe with a CTU entourage at least a few miles back. Danni was not too thrilled about the back up but no one at CTU would listen to her.

Jack and Danni spent most of the ride back to her home in silence. Though she looked better, Jack knew what that drug she'd been administered with felt like. It had been one of the many he'd been tortured with while in China.

When the two of them arrived at Danni's home, Jack allowed her a minute to take a shower. He stood guard in her bedroom while she was in the ensuite. Once he heard the shower running, Jack took a quick scan of the room. It had obviously been her mother's because there were photos of Danni at various ages all over the walls. And Danni was not that self involved. The one thing Jack noticed in all the photos that he saw were Danni's eyes. They were the eyes he remembered. The sparkling green and blue mix; they were not that dull pair that he'd seen that day. He wondered what on earth happened to her to take that sparkle away. He wondered if maybe she'd been treated for years the way she'd been treated that day in the interrogation room. Jack eyes fell upon another picture on the mantel and he almost laughed out loud. He was staring at a picture of himself from twenty five years before. It was his and Danni's prom photo. His parents had one just like this. _That was a lifetime ago,_ Jack thought to himself.

Danni had never had a more uncomfortable shower. Though she knew her wounds needed to be cleaned, the water stung like tiny daggers against her skin. She didn't dare use soap. She stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around her body. Wiping the steam off the mirror she glanced at her face and saw how sullen she looked. Her cheeks were hollow and she had an almost grayish tinge to her normally pinkish hue. Sighing, Danni moved away from the mirror and over to the door. As she exited the bathroom she noticed Jack staring at a picture on her mantel with a very faint smile at his lips. She knew what picture it was even without being able to see it.

"I hate that photo." Danni said with a slight smile as she walked into the bedroom. "It needs a title saying '_What _not_ to wear to prom'._" She walked over and took the picture from Jack's hands and stared at her over the top hair and hot pink, ruffled dress. "Man, I loved Cyndi Lauper." Sighing, Danni put the picture back and suddenly became very aware that she was almost naked. "Ah, I'll get changed." She turned away from Jack and took some clothes from her dresser. "The phone is in the top drawer over there." Danni pointed to her bedside table as she walked back into the bathroom to change.

Jack remained quiet as Danni headed back into the bathroom. Shaking of the nostalgic feeling he was having being around her again, he headed for the bedside table and retrieved the silver cell phone. It didn't appear to be all that flashy; but Jack supposed it didn't have to be.

Danni came out of the bathroom dressed in jeans and a yellow tank top. She saw Jack fiddling with the phone by her bed and went to join him. "You can't trace it." She said as she arrived by his side. "I can only call the one number."

Jack held out the phone to her. "Call it."

Danni took the phone from his hand. "Where do you want me to meet him?"

"There's an abandoned strip of houses in Winchester; about twenty minutes from here. Tell him to meet you at 115 Thirsten Avenue." Jack told her.

"He won't come alone." Danni said knowingly.

"Neither will you." Jack told her.

Danni glanced at him before she hit speed dial one and held out in front of her. She turned on the speaker phone so Jack could listen in. She knew there was no way Jack would let her do this alone. But she also knew if Maliqe saw him with her, he'd kill him. On the second ring, Maliqe answered the phone.

"You stole my money, Danielle." Was his greeting to her.

"Yeah, well, two million dollars just didn't seem like enough to blow up LA." Danni replied. "I want five more."

"I want my chip." He replied sternly.

"Then we can cut a deal." Danni told him.

"We had a deal. You broke it." Maliqe reminded her.

"We were ambushed, I had to think fast." Danni replied. "When I got away I realized how much you're ripping me off."

Maliqe was silent for a few moments. "Very well." He finale said.

Danni told him where she wanted them to meet and he agreed; saying that he would transfer the money when she arrived with the chip as he had before. With a nod of encouragement from Jack; Danni agreed to this. They planned to meet in a half hour. Danni hung up the phone.

"Think he bought it?" Danni asked Jack.

"We'll find out." Jack replied. As Danni turned to leave the room, Jack noticed a stain of blood on the small of her back. "Hey, hey you're bleeding."

Danni turned around and realized he was right. "Dammit. I broke my stitches." She realized. She vividly remembered that wound being stitched up back at the medical station at CTU; they'd neglected to give her any anesthetic.

"Do you have a first aid kit?" Jack asked her.

"In the bathroom cupboard." Danni told him. She lifted her shirt up off her back slightly and looked in the mirror. She cursed herself for not being more careful and had now ruined yet another shirt that day.

Jack came back into the room with the first aid kit in hand. "Lie on your back." Jack told her. Danni obliged, carefully lying down on her bed and lifting up the back of her shirt.

Careful not to cause her any more pain, Jack gently removed the broken stitches from Danni's back and set about re-stitching her wound. Her back was smooth and her skin was white. Danni hated being out in the sun too long; from the moment Jack met her she was like that. Although a lot of people laughed it off back then; Jack could see it was paying off now. Danni looked ten years younger than she was.

Danni had forgotten Jack's touch. They hadn't been together in twenty-five years. Although his fingers were rough and his skin was firm; Danni got flashbacks from her teenage years. Danni moved a little to cover it the shiver that ran through her body and prayed silently that Jack hadn't felt it.

Jack finished up stitching Danni's wound and moved away from the bed. "Done." He told her.

Danni got to her feet and quickly went into the bathroom. She changed her shirt again into an army green long-sleeved top and then went with Jack downstairs. They got in Danni's SUV. As Danni drove, Jack spoke. His mind was purely on the task ahead.

"About a mile from the house in Winchester you let me out of the car." Jack was saying. "I'll follow on foot. Unmarked CTU vans will be behind me."

"And if Maliqe sees you?" Danni brought up.

Jack shook his head. "He won't. You go in there. Wait as long as you can before giving him the chip."

xxx

At the same time coming from the other side of Los Angeles, Maliqe Shiraz was pulling up to the same location in Winchester. His men had arrived five minutes before and had set up in anticipation of Danielle's arrival. In the hours since she'd betrayed him, Maliqe had figured out a way to get back at her. Death and torture, though affective, would not hurt Danielle as much as what Maliqe had in mind.

Maliqe got out of his car and headed into the home. Tarelle met him at the door. He had been with Al-Haeq from the beginning, from when Maliqe had started his organization. "Is everything in place?" Maliqe asked.

Tarelle nodded. "Yes sir." He nodded to a room at the end of the hall. "He's in there."

"Good." Maliqe headed for the entry way.

"Sir?" Tarelle followed. "Shall I set up for the money transfer?"

Maliqe shook his head. "No need." He turned to Tarelle. "When Danielle sees what we have waiting for her; she won't care about the money."

"Are you sure she's been compromised?" Tarelle asked.

"I would not operate under any other suspicion." Maliqe told him. "Which is why we are proceeding the way we are." He headed towards the room at the back of the house. Tarelle followed him. Maliqe opened the door and was happy with what he saw. There was a Caucasian man, mid-forties, tied to a chair, obviously unconscious, with a blindfold over his eyes. "Wake him up." Maliqe told Tarelle. "He'll need to be awake for this."

xxx

Danni pulled her car over on the side of the road approximately one mile from the house. Jack had been on the phone to CTU and their agents were about a mile behind Jack and Danni.

Jack got out of the car and walked around to Danni's window. "You sure you know what to do?" he asked.

"Yes, I'm sure." Danni told him.

"I'll be right behind you." Jack continued.

Danni smiled. "If I didn't know better I'd say you were worried about me, Jack."

Jack wasn't sure what to say to that. He took the microchip out of his pocket and handed it to her. "You'd better get moving." Was the best he could come up with.

Danni nodded as Jack stepped away from the car and she pulled back out onto the street. Less than a minute later she was pulling up to the house. The street was full of shabby homes, all of which were marked for demolition. She saw a black SUV out the front of house 115 which led her to believe she was not the first one there. Drawing a slow breath and double checking that she had the chip in her front jeans pocket, Danni exited the car and headed towards the house. Knocking three times on the door, she waited. Moments later, Danni was completely stunned when Maliqe himself answered the door.

"Hello Danielle." He said icily as he moved aside.

Danni just nodded in reply as she entered the home; knowing very well she may not be exiting it. "So let's do this." Danni said as she and Maliqe headed into the living room. "Put the money in; you'll get your chip."

"Of course." Maliqe nodded. "Tarelle is handling the finances since Rahjid failed to do his duty."

"You mean kill me and bring you the chip?" Danni retorted. "I told you he was useless."

Maliqe led Danni down the hallway to the door at the end. "Perhaps your right."

Danni's mental signal went off. Maliqe was up to something. He never agreed with her and he never dealt with her personally. He always had one of his lackeys like Rahjid or Tarelle deal with her first.

"But he was good at one thing in particular." Maliqe continued with a hidden smirk.

"Oh yeah?" Danni asked as the pair reached the door at the end of the hall; the one Danni assumed Tarelle was behind waiting to transfer her money. "And what might that be?"

"He could always find those that didn't want to be found." Maliqe said, making sure he locked eyes with Danni as he spoke.

The way he said this to her made Danni even more uneasy then she had when she'd entered the home.

Maliqe reached out and opened the door. Danni went to move in but immediately stopped at what she saw ahead of her. Tarelle was in there alright. But he wasn't alone. He was standing behind a man strapped to a chair. The man looked like Danni had the hour before when she'd been tortured at CTU. The man was awake but his head had fallen forwards. The sounds of people entering the room caused him to lift his head and look at them.

Danni locked eyes with the prisoner. "Oh my God." She said as tears filled her eyes. She knew this man. Danni took a few steps back but felt Maliqe grab her upper arm and make her stop.

"What is it, Danielle?" he said in a malicious voice. "Didn't you know we knew about your boyfriend?"


	9. Chapter 9

**CHAPTER NINE**

**Hour Three**

**6:00-7:00**

Jack had called CTU to make sure that there were still agents on their way to the house. There were, but since Bill was relying heavily on Jack's belief that Danni would do the right thing; there were only two cars on their way. That was better than nothing and right now; Jack would take all the help he could get. The house was in his sight now. He could see Danni's car. And he had been in earshot should a gun have been fired so he held the hope that they hadn't killed Danni. She did have the chip, after all.

With his gun drawn, Jack moved onto the property and paused behind Danni's car to make sure no one had been alerted of his approach.

xxx

Inside, Danni was leaning against the back wall in disbelief. She was staring at her boyfriend who had obviously been through hell.

"Mark?" Danni said with a shaky voice.

"Danni…" Mark replied in a groggy voice. "What's going on?"

"Enough talk." Maliqe pulled Danni out of the room back into the hall and slammed the door. "When you first arrived with us, Danielle, I told you never to underestimate us, did I not?"

"What do you need him for?" Danni said through fierce tears. "You have me. I have the chip. Why do you need him?"

"Because...look at you." Maliqe smirked. "It's getting to you."

"What do you want?" Danni glared at him.

"I need you to activate the chip in the bomb." Maliqe told her. "Micah was set to do it but, well, he's dead." Not even a hint of remorse came through Maliqe's voice. "And I know you know how to do this."

"Let Mark go." Danni spat.

"If you do as I say, your boyfriend goes free." Maliqe told Danni in an almost sincere voice.

Believing that the only reason Maliqe sounded at all truthful was because he wanted his bomb to go off, Danni shook her head. "Let him go now and take me instead."

"Tempting, but-" Maliqe's expression changed to worry as something through the glass of the front door caught his eye. He knocked twice on the door behind him and Tarelle appeared. Maliqe nodded towards the door. Understanding this, Tarelle headed down the hallway.

xxx

Jack moved cautiously onto the porch and hid next to the front door. He heard footsteps coming towards him and readied his gun. The front door opened and a stocky man walked out onto the porch. Keeping silent, Jack held back until the man moved slightly to his left and saw Jack.

"Hey." Jack said before shooting the man in the arm.

With a scream of pain, the man went down and Jack entered the home. He saw a man he presumed to be Maliqe pull Danni into a room at the end of the hallway. Continuing with caution, Jack went further into the home and up the hallway. He met no resistance on the way which led him to believe that the man that had just been shot was the only armour Maliqe had brought with him. Jack rushed up to the door and leant his back against the wall beside it in case Maliqe decided to start shooting.

"I'm a Federal Agent!" Jack shouted through the wall. "There are more of my people on the way. You got no way out!"

Inside that room, Maliqe had silenced Danni with a punch to the jaw. She was now sitting in a corner with Maliqe standing in front of her, pointing his gun at Mark's head. He was ignoring everything that Jack was saying.

"Give me the chip, Danielle." Maliqe said in a calm voice. "That's all you have to do."

"You heard him." Danni said, referencing Jack. "You got nowhere to go."

Maliqe armed his gun and held it at Mark's temple. The frightened man let out a gasp of fear through the gag that Maliqe had replaced over his mouth.

"Please don't." Danni begged.

"The chip." Maliqe demanded.

Jack continued to try and coerce the man out from the other side of the door, pushing his worry for Danni aside. "If you do not do as I say than you will die! I am your only chance to _walk_ out of this house."

Maliqe refused to take his eyes of Danielle. "Now or never, Danielle. Can you live with the fact that I killed this man right in front of you?"

Danni held head in her hands and sobbed. "I will do _anything _that you want." She pleaded.

Maliqe put his mouth in a firm line. He had no time. In a few moments this house would be surrounded by agents and he would be trapped. Though it would make his life much easier to have this over with now; it wasn't the end of the line. He had other plans. That didn't mean that Danni was going to get out of this unscathed; even if she wasn't the one he injured.

Maliqe raised his eyebrows at Danni as she looked up at him. "Last chance."

Danni didn't reply; she couldn't. For some reason the promise she'd made with Jack was the main reason she held back. Mark meant so much to her; he had no idea what was going on. He was so drugged that she doubted he was aware there was a gun at his temple. Danni didn't answer Maliqe's question. She didn't speak, didn't move and barely breathed.

"This is on you, Danielle." Maliqe said before shooting a bullet into Mark's head.

"NO!" Danni screamed as Maliqe flew out the back window. Danni quickly ran over to the chair and undid all the ropes. Mark fell in a heap onto the floor. "Mark? Mark?!" Danni screamed into his face.

Hearing the gunshots, Jack kicked his way into the room. He saw Danni hunched over a man who appeared to have a severe gunshot wound to the head and an open window. Thinking that if he ran he'd get to Maliqe, Jack took off out into the backyard.

Mark's blood was spilling all over Danni's hands and clothes as she tried to hold his head steady in her grasp. "Mark?" she said in a softer voice. She moved one of her hands into her own. He squeezed it with such a faint force that Danni would have missed it had she not been holding it in that particular way. He was still alive; but only barely. And Danni knew he wouldn't make it out of that room. She had to find out what she could.

"Mark, where's Billy?" Danni asked. The name meant something to Mark; he twitched as Danni said it. "Where is he?" she asked again. Marks' mouth opened and closed but no sound came out. Danni leant in really close so that she could feel the air being pushed out of Mark's lungs as he tried desperately to communicate with her.

"Na…sff…" was all Danni could make out from what Mark was trying to say, but he kept repeating it. "Not…sff…"

Jack cleared the backyard fence in time to see a black SUV speed off in the opposite direction to which Danni and Jack had come to the house. Running onto the street, Jack fired at the tyres of the vehicle in hopes to slow it down, but the speed in which it was traveling made it hard to focus on a target so Jack didn't make contact. He got out his cell phone and called the reinforcements that were only minutes away. He let them know of the SUV and told them to pursue it. As Jack hung up the phone, two vans he recognized belonging to CTU sped past him after Maliqe.

Jack hurried back towards the house. The man he'd shot on his way in was unconscious on the porch but Jack checked and made sure. He was still alive; just passed out. Jack then moved inside the house towards the room at the end of the hall. Inside, Danni had untied the man in the chair and was now cradling his body. There was blood all over the floor and all over Danni. She held the man's head close to her heart as she tried to speak to him.

"Where's Billy?" Danni asked again, feeling that all Mark wanted to do was answer her question.

"Not…sff…" he said again. Then all of a sudden his eyes opened wide. "He's not safe." Mark said very clearly. Then he coughed and spurted blood all over his chest. His eyes fell closed and his head fell limp and away from Danni's body.

Jack watched from the doorway for a few moments as Danni tried to make Mark regain consciousness; but he was already gone. And Jack knew that Danni knew that; she just didn't want to accept it. Although Jack didn't know who this man was; he could see that Danni knew him. And quite well, it would seem.

Danni didn't want to let go of Mark. She hadn't seen him in almost three months and she'd never told him of her involvement with Maliqe. The last she knew, he was in New York. That meant that Maliqe had his men pick him up possibly days before in what would seem to be an anticipatory move; like they knew Danni would go against them.

Jack called in to CTU and told them that an ambulance was needed for the two men. Chloe let him know that one had been deployed with the backup squad so it would only be a wait of a matter of minutes. After he hung up his phone, Jack entered the room slowly and headed over to Danni. He knelt down before her and reached for Mark's body but Danni's arms were protectively shielding Jack's advances.

"Don't." Danni said, shoving Jack away.

"Danni, you have to let go of him." Jack told her, reaching for Mark again.

"No, don't touch him!" Danni screamed, gripping Mark's body into her own. "Leave us alone."

Jack pulled back slightly. "Danni…" he continued quietly. "He's gone."

Danni shook her head. "No." she started to rock back and forwards. "Stop it."

"You can't bring him back." Jack said carefully. "You have to let him go."

"No." Danni clung onto Mark even tighter.

Jack felt so sorry for her. He'd been exactly where she was when he'd lost Terri; he didn't want anyone else touching her even though she was dead. Realizing he needed to reach Danni as a friend, as a person, rather than a problem to fix, Jack reached out again. But instead of reaching for Mark, he grasped Danni's hand.

"It's ok, Danni." Jack said softly, pulling her ever so slightly towards him. He was grateful that he didn't feel her resist. Taking this opportunity, Jack moved in closer to her.

Danni knew Jack wanted to help her. And in that moment, he wasn't the agent who had been hired to keep an eye on her. In that moment, he was the Jack she remembered. The Jack she missed. Looking up into his eyes, she saw that he cared; even if it was only slightly. Danni released her tight grasp on Mark.

Jack felt Danni let go of Mark and took him out of her arms, laying him carefully on the floor. Danni leant back against the wall and used it as leverage to pull herself to her feet. Jack stood up with her and held her shoulders. "I'm sorry." He said honestly. Danni unconvincingly held back tears as she nodded in reply.

"Jack?!" A voice called from in the hallway.

"Yeah." Jack moved away from Danni and into the hall. Agent Daniels was leading a medical team into the house. One of the doctors was checking over the unconscious man on the porch while the other was following Agent Daniels. Jack pointed into the room he'd just exited. "He's in there." The medic went into the room. Jack followed and held his hand out to Danni. She was leaning against the wall with her arms crossed over her middle looking scared. "Come on." Jack told her. She didn't move. The medic leant down over Mark's body and proceeded to check him out. The slow pace at which he worked told Jack that Mark was indeed dead. Walking into the room, Jack took Danni by the elbow and pulled her out of the room into the hallway.

Agent Daniels took the lead as both Mark's body and the body of the man Jack had shot on the porch were removed from the house. He then proceeded to have his men come in and search the house.

Jack pulled an unsteady Danni into the living room and sat her on the couch as he stood before her. Even though he knew she was hurting, he needed answers to what he'd heard her say to Mark before his death. And he needed to know who he was. Clearly he meant something to Danni and Jack had to find out why.

"Danni." Jack began softly. "Who is that man in the other room?"

Danni bit her lip. "His name is Mark." She told Jack quietly.

"He your husband?" Jack asked curiously. Even though CTU had done a background search on Danni and came up with no family; only child, parents dead, no husband or children, Jack knew never to underestimate a suspect. Even so, Danni shook her head in response to Jack's question.

"He was my boyfriend." She admitted. "We only dated a couple of months. We broke up about two years ago."

Jack nodded, although he was confused to why Danni would have such a reaction to the death of a man it sounded like she didn't really know. Pushing that aside for a moment, Jack inquired about the other man Danni mentioned. Billy.

The mere mention of his name caused Danni to avert Jack's gaze. She pulled her knees up and hugged them to her chest, wiping away tears as she did so. She didn't want to tell Jack what she knew had happened to Billy. Because then it would be real; and she didn't think she could handle that.

Jack sat on the coffee table directly in front of Danni to gauge her attention better. "Danni." He pressed. "Who is Billy? What's his involvement in this?"

Danni shook her head fiercely. "He has nothing to do with this."

"Then who is he?" Jack asked again. Danni didn't reply. Jack leaned in towards her. "Mark said that he's not safe. So if Billy is in trouble, you need to tell me who he is so I can help him." Sighing, Jack almost pleaded with her. "Danni, you need to tell me who he is."

Danni looked up at Jack with tear filled eyes. She drew in a deep breath and spoke softly. "He's my son."


	10. Chapter 10

**CHAPTER TEN**

**Hour Four**

**7:00-8:00**

Jack took Danni back to CTU immediately after she confessed to him that she had a child. Agent Daniels and his team stayed behind at the home to search for any evidence that could lead them to Maliqe. Danni cried silently almost the whole way so Jack didn't disturb her. The odd thing was that if she were any other person, Jack would have moved hell and high water to find out why the hell she claimed to have a son when there was no record of him and why on earth he would be in danger.

When they got to CTU, Jack took Danni to his office. She sat on the couch in the corner of the room with a worried expression on her face. Jack assumed that if her son truly was in danger, that face wasn't about to change. Sitting next to her on the couch, Jack continued the conversation they needed to have.

"Why didn't you tell me you had a son?" Jack asked Danni.

She looked up at him, fresh tears appearing in her eyes. She had very good reasons for keeping Billy a secret; to keep him safe. But if Mark had been telling the truth, and he had no reason to lie, then Billy had been kidnapped by Maliqe and was in more danger than she could imagine. "I didn't tell anyone." Danni admitted to Jack.

"We ran a search on you; there's no record of you having a child." Jack told her.

Danni sighed. "Well, seeing as how we never registered his birth that sounds about right."

"Why not?" Jack asked.

"Because it was the only way, Jack." Danni leant forwards. "I didn't even find out I was pregnant until a month after Mark and I broke up. And by that time I was already working with Micah and Maliqe."

Jack furrowed his eyebrow. "You hid it from them?"

"I had to. I was living in New York at the time. We talked via telephone for almost a year before I even moved back to L.A." Danni continued. "After I had Billy I came back for about a month at a time. He stayed in New York with Mark."

"How much did Mark know about what you were doing?" Jack asked.

"Nothing; he didn't know anything." Danni shook her head. "I never told him what I did. I just said I had to come back to L.A. for work." She paused before continuing. "Then Maliqe called me about three months ago. He told me about the plans for tomorrow and said I had to stay in L.A. until we were done. I told Mark that I was involved in something in Los Angeles that was very dangerous and he needed to take care of Billy." She laughed a little. "I think he thought it was just an elaborate way of blowing him off."

"Now you think Maliqe has your son." Jack surmised.

"I _know_ he has my son." Danni told Jack firmly. "Mark and I may not be close but he loves that boy." Danni felt another wave of emotion come over her so she tried to stifle more tears. "And if they found Mark then they found Billy. That's why Maliqe ran; he knew he had more leverage."

Jack nodded slowly in agreement. "How old is Billy?" Jack asked.

Danni's bottom lip involuntarily trembled. "He's three next month." She said. Tears fell from her eyes. "Jack...I have to get him back."

"I know." Jack told her.

"Jack..." She leant closer to him. "Please help me get him back."

Jack looked into her eyes. They were blurred with tears and as Jack watched; they fell from her eyes. His job had caused Kim to be in danger more times then he could think about. And he'd lost Terri and Audrey because of it. Not to mention Tony, Michelle and David Palmer. Plus he knew of countless people in the CTU office who'd lost important people in their own lives. Billy was the only family Danni had and Jack understood how much she needed to do this. But he also knew that if he didn't help her she'd go alone and most likely be killed along with her son. "Okay." Jack agreed.

Danni almost smiled as a wave of relief swept over her face. But at that moment they were interrupted as Bill Buchannon came into Jack's office.

"Jack." Bill said sternly as he eyed the two of them. "A word?" He exited the doorway and waited in the hall.

Jack left Danni on the couch and went out to meet Bill. "What's going on?" he asked.

"What the hell are you doing, Jack?" Bill asked callously. "I should have Danielle in custody by now. You didn't capture Maliqe and we still have the chip. We should be focusing our attention on finding the bomb."

"Bill, I know this looks bad. But there's more to this than we know." Jack informed him. "Danni has a son. And we believe Maliqe kidnapped him as a way to punish her for going against them."

Bill looked puzzled. "A son?"

Jack nodded. "Bill, he's not even three years old." He continued. "And Maliqe killed his father in that house."

Sighing, Bill glanced around CTU before looking back to Jack. "So what do you want me to do?"

"Danni's going after Maliqe with or without me." Jack told him. "The only way they are going to let her son live is if Danni stays with them."

"You're going to make a trade." Bill realized, nodding along. "Does she know this?" Bill jerked his head back towards Jack's office to Danni who was still sitting sadly on the couch.

"She knows that's the reason they took her son in the first place." Jack told him. "Bill...I can get her to work for us."

"No." Bill said immediately. "There is no way I am going to trust her, Jack, I'm sorry. Do I have to remind you that the reason we found her is because she's working with terrorists."

"We've trusted people like her before, Bill." Jack brought up.

Bill stood his ground. "It's too risky. The President's life is at stake."

"So is Danni's son." Jack reminded him. "If I tell her that working with CTU when she's inside is the only way to save her child; she'll do it."

"Jack, she didn't even tell us she had a son." Bill pointed out. "And for all we know; she's making it up. There's no record of her ever giving birth."

"She didn't register his birth." Jack reiterated what Danni had told him just moments before to Bill, who didn't seem at all perturbed by the information.

"There's no proof of that, Jack." Bill said. "You said you could use her to get to Maliqe. You didn't."

"I got her to Maliqe." Jack defended himself. "I couldn't have anticipated what happened in that house."

"Danielle knew the man who died in that house, Mark from her past. If she'd been honest with you; you would've known to be on alert." Bill said knowingly. "As much as _you_ want to trust her, Jack, I don't. You had your chance and you blew it. Now I need you to head the team to find the bomb."

Refusing to give up, Jack proceeded. "Danni can help us find the bomb." Jack had every confidence that his plan would work; but getting people to go along with his plans seemed to be a constant issue.

"For the last time, Jack, no. Forget Danielle; take her to a holding cell downstairs and she can wait there until we solve this." Bill said with a hint of finality in his voice. "Agent Daniels is en route to CTU. Brief him when he gets back and go find that bomb." Bill turned and headed back towards his own office.

Jack started after him but stopped himself. He turned around and went back to his own office. Danni was now standing and pacing Jack's office, biting the nails of her right hand. She looked at Jack as he came back in.

"Is everything ok?" she asked.

"Yeah." Jack assured her.

"Are they going to help us find Billy?" she asked, somewhat hopefully. She knew this was a long shot. They were torturing her for terrorism only hours before.

Jack didn't want to tell her what Bill had said so he just shook his head in response to her question. She nodded once and looked away. When she turned back to Jack her face was stony.

"I have to find him, Jack. I have to." She said strongly. "He's my son. He's my son!" She stormed up to Jack and stood just a few feet from him, tears burning her eyes. "I'm his mother! I should've protected him!" She was so mad at herself she was shaking. Jack reached for her shoulders but she just shoved him off. "Don't! Jack..." Danni's face crumbled as she started gasping for breaths. "He's only a baby." The tears she'd been holding in poured down her cheeks as she continued breathing in raspy breaths.

Jack could feel tears in his own eyes, but over the years he knew how to hold them back. But his feelings for Danni he could not hide. He wanted to help her so badly, no matter what Bill had told him. And she was in so much pain before him at that moment; it was as though he could see her heartbreak all over her face. He reached out for her shoulders again and managed to hold her before him; she resisted but was losing energy and couldn't seem to shrug him off again.

Danni grabbed Jack's shirt and gripped it in her fists. She shook him slightly but he barely moved. All she could think about was Billy and every time she pictured his beautiful face; she just started sobbing all over again. "Oh God..." she wept. "He must be so scared." She fell into Jack's body and cried against his shoulder. She expected him to push her away; but he didn't. Instead she felt his arms close around her back and pull her into him.

Hugging Danni brought back a whole new set of memories Jack had long forgotten, but he was not the kind of man to push away a friend when they were in so much pain. Even if that friend had aligned herself with terrorists in the past. Jack realized as he held Danni that they both knew he was going to help her get her son back. There was some kind of unspoken bond that had been formed between them; a connection that came from whatever lingering feelings that the pair had left for each other after so long.

They were interrupted but some loud commotion on the bottom level of CTU. Jack and Danni broke apart as he headed out into the hallway to see what was going on. Rahjid Andreas was being moved. Jack surmised that the CTU interrogators had either gotten what they wanted out of him or he hadn't told them anything and was being taken to another location. And by the way Rahjid was striding along side the guards who were pulling him along by the chains that were shackled to his wrists and ankles.

Jack descended the staircase slowly. Most of the agents milling around didn't look up from their work. Whether it was because they didn't see Rahjid or just didn't want to make eye contact; Jack wasn't sure.

Rahjid, head held high; almost refusing to let these agents look down at him, glanced around the bustling office. He presumed most of the people sitting at their computers were trying to figure out how to find the bomb, find his comrades, in particular Maliqe. The thought that they were still coming to dead ends filled him with a sense of pride. As he was walked further along, Rahjid caught the eye of a man on the staircase; the same man who caused him to be in the chains he was wearing. Rahjid's eyes drifted to the top landing above the stairs where he saw a shaken looking Danielle Carter was staring down at him with glowering eyes. He could see the effect his mere presence was having on her so he smirked in response to her stricken expression.

Danni slowly walked down the staircase in Jack's direction. He was watching Rahjid from the bottom of the stairs. As Danni neared him, Rahjid's soulless eyes met her own.

"How's the baby?" he sneered at her with an evil laugh.

Danni lunged forwards towards him, reaching out her arms to grab the son-of-a-bitch that dared mentioned her son's name. And she would've tackled him, too, had she not been pulled backwards by Jack as he grabbed her around her middle.

"Danni, calm down!" Jack was yelling loudly over Danni's cries of anguish and fury.

"You bastard!" Danni screamed as Jack tried unsuccessfully to pull her back upstairs. "Where's my son?! Where is he?!"

"Jack!" Bill's voice bellowed over CTU. "Get her out of here!" He turned to the guards holding Rahjid. "Harris! Montague! Move!"

Jack managed to get Danni back upstairs and into his office. The guards moved with Rahjid even faster and moments later he was out of sight. All the agents who'd lost sight of their work when Danni had lunged at the prisoner began to get back to their own desks and continuing working.

Jack locked his door and hit the button under his light switch that caused the blinds covering his glass walls to swing closed; obscuring the view of anyone who looked in. He turned to Danni, who had her back to him, and could see by the way she was standing that she was fuming. Her back was straight and her muscles were tense. He didn't want to lecture her on what a bad idea it was to attack Rahjid; he had a feeling she knew it was a bad idea while doing it.

"He knows." Danni spoke in a quiet voice but the malice came in loud and clear to Jack. "He knows where Billy is."

Jack hung his head. "I know." He replied.

Danni turned. Her face held no sign of the sadness it had only minutes before when she was sobbing into Jack's shoulder. Her expression was one of pure anger at the people she'd once trusted; the people who'd kidnapped her only child. Her eyes locked into Jack's.

"We have to go." She said.

"Look Danni," Jack started. "Buchannon told me earlier that he doesn't want me to help you. But I promised you I would." Jack added quickly as he saw Danni's mouth open; presumably about to protest.

Danni looked slightly relieved. "So what are we going to do?" She asked, crossing her arms.

"I have to get you out of here without anyone noticing." Jack stated simply.

"Okay." Danni nodded along.

"Usually, after we're done with a suspect, they're taken to a holding cell either here or at the police station depending on the crime." Jack told Danni. "Because of what you've done Bill wants to keep you here." Walking over to his desk, Jack picked up the phone. He dialed Chloe's desk phone number and, when she answered, asked her to come up to his office.

"Who is Chloe?" Danni asked, repeating the name she'd just heard Jack use.

"The only person who can help us." Jack said simply

**xxx**


	11. Chapter 11

**CHAPTER ELEVEN**

**Hour Four**

**7:00-8:00**

It took about ten minutes, but Jack managed to persuade Chloe to help him get Danni out of CTU unscathed. The idea was to make it seem as though Danni was in one place when she was actually in another.

As soon as Jack had Chloe on his side, he'd moved Danni into a monitored holding room with a promise that it would only be for a little while. He could see as he closed the door on her that she found the prospect of being locked, alone in a small room aggravated her. But he'd given her explicit instructions to sit at the table and move as little as possible. With Danni safely locked away and Agent Daniels only minutes away from CTU, Jack had to get his plan into action immediately.

xxx

Chloe was working on setting up a false video link to Bill's office. Morris was hovering nearby, making sure no one got to close to Chloe's screen to see what she was doing. Having Morris in on the plan had been the only reason Chloe had agreed to go along with that. Well, that and the fact that he was a friend asking a favour. Truth was, Chloe actually felt bad for Danielle. Not for the terrorist part, but for her son's disappearance. In the past few months Chloe had realized she'd been becoming more affectionate with other people. Morris told her this was because of the baby. Chloe was almost five months pregnant, but she hid it well. She didn't want anyone at CTU to find out just yet that she was expecting; she was afraid they'd send her home and Chloe lived for her job. Jack was unaware of this, of course, as was everyone she worked with. Except for Morris.

xxx

Danni fiddled with the ring on her left thumb. Jack had told her to stay still but he hadn't told her why. Still, she decided he knew what he was doing. She just didn't like being still; it wasn't how she lived. Especially in the last few years, traveling back and forth from L.A. to New York to visit Mark and Billy and staying in different hotels. Ironically, the instability of it all made her feel more centred.

When Maliqe told her she'd have to stay in Los Angeles until the bomb was detonated, she was forced to stay in the one place. And she didn't like not having that freedom she enjoyed so much. That was part of the reason that Danni was going along with Jack; because the flip side was prison. He'd mentioned something about her help possibly leading to her being pardoned for what she'd done that day. Technically, she wasn't a terrorist. All she had done was configure some software for the bomb. But the fact that Danni had knowledge of the attack and did nothing to stop it or warn anyone was what she knew would be her biggest downfall.

xxx

With the video link now set up, Jack watched cautiously over Chloe's shoulder as she hooked up the faux screen. It was a rather simple procedure, but if they were caught, they could all lose their jobs.

Chloe worked fast as she took the approximate seven minutes of video from Danni's holding room and fixed it to a loop so that it would play over and over. She then set replaced the old link with her new one. In short, the looped video would act like a mask; shielding Danni's actual location.

The plan was that Jack would take Danni through the basement exit, since it had less security, and they would head off after her son. A look from Chloe told Jack that the video link was up and running. Now Jack had to get out of the building before Agent Daniels returned asking for instructions on where to find the bomb.

Returning to his office once more, Jack retrieved his shoulder bag and headed back downstairs towards the holding room. Checking the hallway to make sure it was empty, Jack punched in the code on the keypad and yanked open the door. Danni's head snapped up to see him in the doorway. She raised her eyebrows at him, her gaze shifting from his eyes to his shoulder bag. Without speaking, Jack knew what she was asking him. And in response, he nodded. "Let's go."

Danni gratefully got out of her chair and left the holding room. As she entered the hall, Jack seized her by her upper left arm and stood directly astride her; she assumed as to keep her from view of anyone who glanced their way.

Too wary to take the elevator, Jack took Danni through to the basement via the back staircases. They reached the bottom level of CTU without incident and without running into anyone else. It was only when they neared the car park that they caught eyes with another person. His name was Geoff Edwards; he was a security guard Jack had known for the last seven or so years. Jack relinquished his hold on Danni to make their appearance together look less sinister. Geoff, who had been reading a newspaper at his desk, rose to his feet as he heard someone approaching.

"Hey Geoff." Jack greeted him with a smile, hoping he wouldn't pick up on anything out of the ordinary.

"Hey there Jack." Geoff replied. "Heading out?"

"Yeah, for now." Jack said. "I'm dropping Danni home; she came in as a witness today." Jack felt uncomfortable about lying to Geoff but he couldn't worry about that now.

"Right, right." Geoff nodded, seemingly believing Jack. "Well, take care." He waved them out the door.

"You too." Jack replied. He kept the same calm walking speed as he and Danni headed for his SUV.

Glancing back at the exit that they'd just come from, Jack saw Geoff sit back down at his desk and resume reading his newspaper. A task, Jack was sure; he would not have done had he thought anything was suspicious about Jack and Danni. This thought gave Jack a burst of encouragement as he directed Danni into the passengers' seat of his car. Climbing into the driver's seat himself, Jack started the car and pulled out of the CTU parking lot; dreading the impending call from Bill Buchannon asking why the hell he wasn't leading the team to find the bomb. Truth was, Jack still believed that trading Danni for her son would be the best way to find the weapon.

As they drove back to Danni's mother's house, Jack instructed her on what she needed to do if she wanted to have her name cleared. Jack knew that President Palmer, though a frightening foe, took selfless acts into consideration. And if Danni managed to gain information that would lead to the foiling of the plot planned out for the next day, Jack was sure he would be able to help her out.

Jack left the engine running as Danni ran inside her mother's home to retrieve the only form of communication she had with Maliqe. While she was gone, Jack rang Chloe's cell phone.

"O'Brien." She answered.

"Chloe, it's me." Jack told her. "What's going on?" He asked, meaning _had they been discovered yet_?

"Buchannon doesn't know you're gone; but I think he knows something's up." She replied in a hushed whisper.

Jack got the impression she was walking and talking at the same time. He also knew that it was only a matter of time before Bill realized that Danni was gone and he found the looped video. Not wanting to put Chloe in harms way, he had signed onto her computer with his own name before she'd transferred the link. She'd agreed to this but Jack had a feeling she would've done it on her own name anyway. This all meant that no matter what Bill did, for all he knew, Jack had been the one to set up the link and break out Danni. And that was the story he would stick to if he ever made it back to CTU.

Danni came running out of the house with the silver cell phone in her hand, but she did not get into the car immediately. She opened the door and spoke to Jack.

"I'm going to put the carseat in the back." She said simply.

It took Jack a moment to figure out what she meant. "For Billy?" He assumed.

Danni nodded. She rushed through the door into the garage from the side of the house and returned moments later with a child's car seat in her arms. She set about fastening it into the back of Jack's car.

"You have to put the seat belt over it once you've strapped him in or he gets out." Danni said as she checked the seat was stable. She stood back and looked at it for a moment. "Oh, wait." She headed back to the house.

"Danni, we gotta go." Jack called after her.

She waved her arm at him as she went back into the house. She returned moments later with a small green teddy bear and a blue baby blanket. She climbed into the car and slammed the passenger's side door closed.

Jack looked at her and raised his eyebrows, as if asking her if there was anything _else_ she wanted to run in and grab. She nodded to let him know she was ready and moments later they were back on the road again.

Once they got off the main road, Danni got out the silver cell phone and dialed the first code she needed to get to Maliqe. When that was accepted, she punched in the second code, held the phone to her ear and waited.

"What?" Was Maliqe's gruff response.

Danni couldn't help but notice Maliqe sounded agitated, as though he hadn't expected her call. "Maliqe." She said, mainly to let him know it was her on the other end of the line.

"Ah, Danielle." Maliqe's voice returned to its normal, malicious tone.

"Where's my son?" She spat bitterly into the cell.

Maliqe chuckled evilly. "I always knew you were smart." He said. "Just not smart enough, it would seem."

"Do you have him?" Danni asked, momentarily hoping that maybe they didn't have Billy. Maybe they'd left him in New York with Mark's horrible, albeit responsible, mother. There was a long pause at the other end of the line before Maliqe answered.

"Yes, we have him." Maliqe answered in a tone that told Danni that he was smiling.

Fear rose in Danni's throat again as new tears appeared in her eyes. "I want to talk to him."

"I'm afraid that's not possible." Maliqe answered. "Perhaps when you arrive. I assume, of course, that you are on your way here to trade yourself, and the chip, for your child?"

"Yeah." Danni said quietly.

"Again...smart." Maliqe said.

Danni had to find the strength in her somewhere to say what she wanted to say next. "I am not going to trade for a dead body." She had to keep her composure; she didn't want Maliqe to hear her crying. "Let me speak to him or I'll run over the microchip in my car right now."

There was another long silence while Danni waited. There was also the muffled sound of someone moving. "Very well." Maliqe's voice growled through the phone at her. Danni's heart lifted. She involuntarily grabbed at Jack's arm in elation.

Jack knew Danni must have convinced Maliqe because there was a smile playing at her lips. A smile that would not be there had she been told her son was no longer living.

Danni waited until she heard the small, scared voice of her son come through the phone. "Mummy?" He asked, as though he'd been prompted by someone; and Danni believed he had. Still, she was so excited to hear his voice. "Hi baby!" she said happily into the phone. "Hi. Are you alright? Are you okay?"

"Mummy! Come get me!" He wailed into the phone.

Danni had never heard Billy sound so scared. Her heart ached for him so much it caused her physical pain. She clutched at her chest as she continued to speak. "I'm coming, okay? Mummy's coming to get you, alright?"

"Come soon." The little boy cried softly.

"I will. I promise." Tears fell from Danni's eyes. "I love you."

"I love you, Mummy." Billy's faraway voice said back to her. And Danni knew that Maliqe had taken back the phone.

"There. He's alive. Meet us at the marina. Warehouse seven. Come alone and bring the chip or we toss your son into the water." Maliqe slammed the phone shut and the line went dead.

Danni kept the phone to her ear for a few seconds after Maliqe had hung up, as if her hope alone would wish her son's voice back through the receiver. At that moment, it was all she wanted to hear.

Jack glanced over at Danni's face. She looked as furious and as heartbroken as he'd ever seen her. She slowly retracted the phone from her ear, closed it and placed it calmly in the glove box in front of her. Jack kept glancing at her as he drove, thinking she would react somewhat more bluntly. Then, a second later, Danni screamed as she smashed her right fist straight through the glass on the driver's side door. The shock of the smash caused Jack to swear and swerve simultaneously.

He managed to right the car but Danni was screaming through sobs, cursing Maliqe for what he'd done.

"How could he? How could he!" She screamed to Jack, blood pouring from her right hand as shards of glass flew blithely out the window.

"Danni, stop it." Jack pulled over to the side of the road and reached into the back seat of his car, pulling out a First Aid Kit. He retrieved a wad of bandages and wrapped them around Danni's hand to staunch the bleeding. He squeezed her hand in his own to put pressure on the wound.

Danni was forced to turn towards Jack, so awkward of her position was, her back leaning against the frame of the broken window. The glass seemed to all come out at once and shatter into almost identical shards that were neither sharp nor blunt. Danni brushed a few pieces of glass off her jeans. She took a few deep breaths and looked up at Jack, who was watching her with a concerned look.

"Sorry about the window." Danni said desolately. "I'll replace it."

"I don't care about the window." Jack said in a low voice.

Danni looked up at him. He reached over and brushed his hand on her cheek, wiping a tear from her eye. Or perhaps it was to brush off a loose shard of glass from the window. Danni wasn't sure. But the speed at which Jack retracted his hand made her think it was the latter.

"It's gonna be okay." Jack told her. "We'll get him back."

Danni managed to compose herself. She nodded at Jack. "Okay." She said quietly.

Jack fastened a bandage to Danni's cut hand, packed away the first aid kit and started his car. Pulling back onto the road, the wind now flowing through the car thanks to the broken window, Jack worried that perhaps Danni wasn't in the right state of mind to do what she planned to do. But the reverse was not going to the meeting with Maliqe which meant that they would have no way of finding him and that Danni's son would lose his life. Jack realized that no matter what she was feeling, Danni would do anything she had to do to save her son. And he knew this because he was exactly the same way.


	12. Chapter 12

**CHAPTER TWELVE**

**Hour Five**

**8:00-9:00**

Jack pulled his SUV into the driveway of the marina. Warehouse seven was at the end of a row of about thirty. Jack knew that if there was any chance this would go smoothly, he had to ignore the niggling feeling in the back of his mind that told him he should follow Danni. Instead, Jack tried to focus on what he was going to do next and not the fact that he had to leave her behind. CTU was, as of yet, unaware that Danni was missing but he knew it wouldn't be long until they figured it out. And they knew she'd be with Jack so he had to be able to produce something to make sure Bill kept him in on proceedings. His plan was to take Billy back to CTU and leave him with Chloe, then come back for Danni. If Maliqe was at the warehouse then that meant it might have some importance for Al Haeq and the rest of their plans for the next day. It certainly meant it was worth checking out by CTU.

Jack shut off the engine and turned to Danni. She was wearing an almost blank expression; emotionally exhausted was probably more like it. "Are you ready?"

Danni blinked out her daydream. She'd been thinking about Billy and if she was really going to get him back safely. "Yeah…" she said quietly. She took out the silver cell phone and dialed Maliqe's number again. Their conversation lasted approximately thirty seconds. And Danni didn't say much. All Maliqe said was that Billy would be brought out of the warehouse and meet Danni halfway. She'd been asked who was in the car with her. Danni told him Jack was a friend; the only person she knew who could take Billy. Maliqe was annoyed but didn't challenge her at all. She told them after Billy was safely at the car; she'd willingly go with them. Hanging up the phone, Danni unhooked her seatbelt, opened the car door and got out.

"Danni." Jack called as she shut the door.

Danni looked through the window, without glass thanks to Danni's earlier outburst, and up at Jack. "Yeah?"

"Be careful." Jack told her.

"Always am." She half smiled at him and walked away from the car down the road between all the warehouses.

Danni walked along for awhile without hearing anything. It was only when she reached warehouse fifteen that she heard movement a few buildings down. The door to the side of warehouse seven opened and out came a man with a rifle slung over his shoulder. Behind him was another man in a leather jacket who was holding the hand of a very small, very scared looking little boy. Danni had to suppress the urge to run screaming towards her son. Instead she halted where she was and waited. The two men stood on either side of Billy as they walked towards her.

Catching sight of his mother for the first time, a smile broke over Billy's scared face. "Mummy!" He let go of the man's hand and ran towards her.

Seeing that the two men weren't stopping her son, Danni took the opportunity and hurried towards him. She scooped him up in her arms and clutched him to her chest.

From the end of the road, Jack watched from his car. He saw Danni grab her son up into her arms and hold onto him for dear life. The two armed men stood back and seemed to let them be for a few moments. But that didn't last long.

"It's okay." Danni repeated over and over to her son as she held him close. He was gripping the shoulders of her shirt with all his might.

The man with the rifle walked towards Danni. "Time to go." He said gruffly.

Danni looked at him with tear filled eyes and nodded. She turned around and put Billy on the ground. She held his small hands in her own and smoothed the hair out of his eyes. She'd forgotten how blue his eyes were. They were like the clearest ocean; just perfect. "Okay, baby, I need you to do something for me, ok?" Danni told her son. "See that car?" She pointed down to the end of the road to Jack's SUV.

As she did, she saw Jack get out of the car. The man with the rifle raised his weapon towards Jack and the leather-coated man pulled out a handgun and aimed it at Jack. Jack had his hands in the air, showing them that he wasn't a threat. They didn't shoot, but they kept their guns on him.

"You see that man?" Danni asked Billy.

"Uh-huh." Billy said.

"His name is Jack and he's a friend of Mummy's. He's gonna take you somewhere safe, okay?" Danni didn't want to leave her son but she had to get him out of here.

Billy looked towards her. "You coming too?" he asked.

Tears formed in Danni's eyes. She smiled and shook her head. "I can't, baby."

Billy started to cry. He flung himself towards Danni's body. "No, mummy, don't go. I don't want you to go away again." He cried loudly.

Danni hugged him. "I know, baby, I know." She said through her own tears. "But it's only for a little while, okay? Just for a little while." It broke her heart; but Danni had to pull her son's arms off from around her neck. She kissed him repeatedly on his cheek. "I love you so much." She said directly into his eyes. She turned him towards the car. "Go."

Billy took a few steps forwards and then turned back. "Mama." He said, his lip quivering.

"Billy, go!" She yelled. She had to get him out of there. The men behind her came up; one of them grabbing her upper arm and causing her to stumble.

Billy looked terrified. "Mama!" He cried.

"Billy run!" She yelled as she was yanked backwards. Billy tuned around and ran away from her. The leather-coated man grabbed her other arm and both the men pulled her towards the warehouse.

Jack had been watching the whole thing. He saw the little boy running towards him; his little legs pounding the pavement as hard as they could. Jack kept glancing at Danni; he was worried that a gunshot would sound; signifying that they'd killed her. That sound didn't come. But Billy did. As he reached Jack's car he slowed down; stopping a few feet from him. Jack knew it was because Billy had no idea who he was.

Jack knelt down on his knee. "Hey Billy." He said quietly. "My name is Jack."

Billy's chest was heaving from all the running he'd done. "I want my mummy." He said, looking back to where Danni had been. There was no sign that anyone had ever been in the street. Billy looked back to Jack, tears in his sparkling blue eyes. "Where's my mummy?"

Jack realized Billy had Danni's eyes. Well, the eyes she used to have. "She's going to be okay as long as she knows your safe." Jack told the little boy. "That's why you have to come with me."

"No, I don't want to." Billy shook his head. "I want my Daddy."

Jack's heart sank. Billy's father was Mark; he'd been killed only hours before. Jack didn't know if he was the one to tell him that; but he did know that now was not the time. "You need to come with me first." Billy looked extremely wary. "I'm not gonna hurt you; I promise." He had an idea. He took out his CTU ID. He remembered how much Kim used to love to play with it as a child. "I'm a special agent." He held the ID out to Billy. "See?"

Billy seemed to calm slightly. "Like a police man?" he asked.

Jack smiled. "Yeah, just like a police man. It's my job to make sure you're safe." He paused. "And I promised your mother I would." Billy was silent. "Do you think you could hang onto this for me?" Billy seemed to like this idea. He walked towards Jack slowly and took the ID out of his outstretched hand. "You gotta protect it, okay?"

Billy fiddled with the ID, looking from the picture on it up to Jack as if to compare them. Then he nodded slowly. "Okay." He said.

"Okay." Jack got to his feet and reached his hand out to Billy. Not to hold onto him, but to direct him towards the car. So he was surprised when he felt Billy put his tiny hand in his own and grip it tightly. Jack took the little boy back to the car and managed to secure him in the car seat. Jack saw the green teddy bear that Danni had grabbed before they left her mother's house lying on the floor. Jack picked it up and handed it to Billy. "Now who's this guy?" he asked the little boy.

Billy's eyes lit up when he saw the bear. "Teddy! I left him at Mummy's." He hugged the bear to his chest.

"You hang onto him, okay?" Jack told Billy. The little boy nodded. Jack shut the door and head into the drivers seat. As he started the engine, the headlights came on shining down the empty street. Ignoring the worry that flooded over him, Jack reversed back onto the street and drove away trying desperately not to think about who he had just left behind.


	13. Chapter 13

**CHAPTER THIRTEEN**

**Hour Five**

**8:00-9:00**

Danni was dragged into the warehouse quite roughly; although she hadn't expected things to travel along smoothly. The two men who had each of her arms threw her into an empty room lit only by a dim hanging light above her. She slammed against the ground, her head colliding heavily with the cement floor giving her the now familiar sting as she cut her head. Before she could get up off her feet; one of the men, the one with the graying beard, tied up her hands tightly with some old rope. The cut she sustained earlier from breaking Jack's car window stung madly as the rope tightened around her skin.

"Where's Maliqe?" Danni asked; determined not to let this guy see her wince. "Never thought he'd miss the chance to kick my ass."

"He's on his way." The bearded man smirked. "He's not dumb enough to show himself just yet."

He eyed Danni with a sickening look and reached for her pants. Danni instinctively retracted herself from him. But he just grabbed her shoulder and held her there. He reached for her again; sticking his hand into her pocket and retrieving the microchip. He waved it in front of Danni's face as he stepped away from her.

"Say goodbye to L.A." he smirked.

"No need. I know you can't operate the bomb unless I activate the chip." Danni told him knowingly. "Only Micah and I know how to do it and he's dead so…" she shrugged. "And I'm never going to do that."

"You say that now." Bearded man told her, turning to leave.

"My son is safe." Danni snapped at him. "Nothing else matters to me."

"We'll just see about that." The bearded man shut and locked the door behind him; smirking at Danni once more through the glass on the door before leaving her alone.

Danni shuffled back against the wall and leant her head against the cool concrete. She could see outside. It was a clear night; the stars were out and there wasn't as much smoke over LA as normal. There were some storm clouds gathering in the distance. Danni wondered if there were people in the city who were dreading the storm; if that was their biggest worry for the night. Danni's dread was for her son and her son only. _He's safe,_ she told herself. _He's with Jack_.

**xxx**

As Jack drove back to CTU, he glanced in the rearview mirror. Billy had fallen asleep in his car seat. Jack admired the resilience of this kid; not twenty minutes before he'd been in the capture of terrorists. And now he was with a total stranger. But he just went with it; took everything as it came. That was a quality Jack himself was still trying to master and this three-year-old had it down.

Jack's cell phone rang and he knew immediately who it was. Had he been on his own he may not have answered, but he didn't want to wake Billy so he picked up his cell and answered it. "Bill?"

"I am going to kick your ass, Bauer." Bill Buchannon replied into the phone.

"I'm sorry, Bill." Jack said honestly. It was the truth. "I had to do it; Danni was and still is our only way to this bomb."

"Where are you?" Bill spat.

"Coming back to CTU." Jack told him. "I have Danni's son with me."

"And where is she?" Bill asked angrily.

Jack swallowed. "I left her with them."

"Son of a bitch, Jack!" Bill yelled. "She has the chip! You just gave terrorists all they needed to destroy LA!"

"Bill; I would never have left Danni if I didn't trust her." Jack only believed those words once he spoke them. But they had to be true. If he thought Danni would betray him; divulge all the information about the chip to Maliqe and his men; he never would've let her stay behind.

"This whole operation rests on your trust in a terrorist?" Bill replied hotly. "I'm sending a team to your location; we're bringing them all in now."

"Bill; you can't!" Jack replied loudly. "You go in there and Maliqe will run; he'll play this game again somewhere else. We can't let him do that; we need him to think he's going to get away with this. At least until we can track him down."

"I'm not signing off on this, Jack." Bill told him sternly. "I'm not gonna help you anymore."

"Then I'll find someone who will." Jack hung up the phone and immediately dialed another number.

"CTU; O'Brien." Chloe answered.

"Chloe; it's Jack." Jack replied. "I need you to connect me to the President right now."

"Jack; Buchannon is pissed." Chloe told him. "He's gonna fire you."

"Chloe; I need to speak to President Palmer now." Jack told her again. "Please."

She sighed. "If Buchannon finds out-"

"I'll take care of it." Jack told her. He heard Chloe sigh again.

"Connecting you now." She said in a low voice.

"Thank you." Jack told her, glancing into the back at Billy. He was still asleep. Jack heard a phone ring on the other end of the line.

"Yes?" a woman answered.

"Ma'am; I need to speak to President Palmer right away. It's a matter of utmost importance." Jack told her quickly.

"I'm sorry, sir. The President isn't taking calls-"

"He'll take mine." Jack snapped at her. "Please. Tell him it's Jack Bauer."

"Hold please." She cut Jack off. Her voice rang back through the receiver a few moments later. "Hold for the President, Mr. Bauer."

Wayne Palmer's voice came over the phone soon after. "Jack?"

"Mr. President." Jack answered. He then went on to explain his whole messed up situation. Breaking Danni out of CTU; taking her to the marina; her having the chip. He informed the President that he was acting off his own accord; separate from CTU, but that he was sure he was doing the right thing; that this was the only way to get to Maliqe and stop the bomb from detonating.

"What are you asking of me, Jack?" The President asked when Jack finished talking.

"Right now Bill Buchannon is sending CTU agents to my location." Jack told him. "He intends to stop me and bring in Maliqe's men. I _know_ that this is a bad idea."

"You want me to have Buchannon pull his forces back?" The President asked. "Jack; you're asking me to negotiate with a terrorist; I won't do that."

"Danni is not a terrorist." Jack said firmly. "I have her son in my custody. She knows how far I'm willing to go to keep her working for us."

"She's the only one who can activate this microchip, am I right?"

"Yes sir." Jack told him. "But she won't do that as long as I have her son."

"And what is your plan?" The President asked.

"I'm taking Danni's son back to CTU. Then I'm going back after her." Jack said strongly.

"But you said Maliqe wasn't at the marina." The President reminded Jack. "if I was him; I'd move her the first opportunity I got."

"Correct sir." Jack said. "But I have that covered. After Danni was tortured she was unconscious in our medical centre. While there I injected her with an untraceable tracking device under her skin. She has no knowledge of this; but I'll be able to follow her wherever she goes."

The President was silent at the other end of the phone line. "How sure are you that Danni will be taken to Maliqe?" he finally asked.

"It's a guaranteed certainty." Jack told him. "Danni wronged Maliqe; he'll want her to suffer." A pang of guilt hit Jack's chest. He knew he was right on this matter; Maliqe was going to make Danni pay.

"Alright, Jack." The President finally agreed. "I'll contact CTU and let them know I want them behind you're operation. But Jack if anything goes wrong, and I mean _anything_, it's all on you; no more favours."

"I understand." Jack agreed. "Thank you very much, Mr. President." Jack hung up his phone. He was coming up to CTU now. He didn't want to go into the building with Bill as furious as he was so instead he called Chloe again. The first thing she told Jack as that she'd just transferred a call from President Palmer to Bill. Then Jack asked her if she could do him a favour. She agreed with some coercion.

Jack pulled his car up in the street next to CTU and got out of his SUV. He opened the bar door and carefully shook away Billy. The little boy woke up with wide, tired eyes and looked at Jack.

"Mummy here?" he asked in a quiet voice. "I want Mummy."

"I know." Jack told him. "I'm gonna go and get her, ok? I'll bring her right back to you; I promise."

Billy looked down at Jack's badge which he was still clutching in his little fist. Then he handed it back to Jack. "Give to Mummy." He said. "Mummy needs it."

Jack felt himself smile. "I will." He unbuckled the boys restraints. "Come on." He reached for the child and Billy held up his arms to Jack. Jack heaved him out of the seat and shut the car door. Billy was still hanging onto his green teddy bear. Jack looked up and saw Chloe exiting the building. He noticed she was somewhat covering her stomach but didn't think much of it. Jack pointed to Chloe. "See that woman coming over to us?"

Billy nodded.

"Her name is Chloe. She's a friend of mine. She's gonna take care of you while I go get your mother, okay?" Jack told the little boy.

Billy shook his head. "No. I come with you. I come get Mummy." He sniffled.

"I'm sorry, buddy, you can't." Jack lowered the child to the ground and knelt to his level. "It's too dangerous. And your mother wouldn't want you to get hurt."

"Mummy hurt?" Billy asked, his lower lip quivering.

"No; your mummy's fine." Jack assured him. "And I'm going to bring her back, alright?"

Billy looked up at Chloe, who was standing nearby, and then he looked back to Jack. "Okay." He agreed.

"Okay." Jack got to his feet and took the little boys hand. Together they walked over to Chloe.

"You owe me." Chloe said to Jack.

"Thanks for doing this." Jack told her. "What did Buchannon say?"

"He's pissed." Chloe told Jack. "But the orders came from the President; there's not a lot he can do about it." She looked down at the child beside Jack.

"Chloe; this is Billy." Jack looked down at the little boy. "Billy; this is my friend Chloe."

"Hi Billy." Chloe said stiffly. She reached her hand out to the little boy. She had to get used to children, she knew that. Her baby would arrive in four or five months time so she needed to learn whether she liked it or not.

Billy looked at Chloe's hand, reluctant to take it, and then he looked up at Jack. "It's ok." Jack told him, releasing his own hand from the boy's grip. Jack watched as Billy clung to his teddy bear tightly and take hold of Chloe's hand.

"I'll be in touch." Jack told Chloe, backing away and heading back to his car. He got in and buckled his seat belt. He spotted Chloe and Billy walking into CTU and couldn't help but feel a little proud of the kid; he had once again just gone with the motions and trusted Jack. He was an oddly grown up little boy.


	14. Chapter 14

**CHAPTER FOURTEEN**

**Hour Six**

**9:00-10:00**

Danni was somewhat sleeping in the little room slash cell. Although she knew she was awake; she was still dreaming. Perhaps daydreaming; or nightdreaming as the case may be. She dreamt of Billy and, oddly enough, of Mark; Billy's father. She found this strange because it wasn't as though she and Mark had had an incredibly deep relationship. They'd only been together for three months; but that was enough. Danni had discovered she was pregnant three weeks after they broke up. And, instead of ditching her, as Danni imagined Mark would do, he supported her and was an incredibly wonderful father. But now he was dead because of Danni; because of the mistakes she'd made in her life.

Waking up from her mindless dreams, Danni thought back to how on earth she'd gotten herself into this situation. She was furious with the heads of Computer Alliance after they closed down a few years. Over two thousand employees lost their jobs without any notice or compensation; they were just dumped and left to fend for themselves. Danni and Micah had been close throughout her years working there, never intimately but she would definitely call them friends, so when he mentioned that his brother had a way of getting back at Computer Alliance, she agreed. She hadn't known then, and didn't think Micah did either, that Rahjid was working with Al-Haeq.

All they were told was that the people of Computer Alliance were starting up a new company and Micah and Danni were going to sabotage it. That's why they created their own software that was now embedded in the microchip that would detonate the bomb in LA. The software was just meant to mess with Computer Alliance's systems; she and Micah hadn't known it was destined for something so horrific. By the time Micah discovered what his brother was up to, it was too late. They were in too deep. By that time Danni was pregnant with Billy and knew that if Maliqe knew she had a family; a weakness, he'd use it against her. She kept them a secret for their own safety. _All the good it did_, Danni thought. _Mark was dead and Billy was going to be scarred for life_.

Danni was interrupted in her thoughts as the door to the room opened and the bearded man came into the room. She had heard him and the other guy arguing and knew that this ones name was Ahkmed. He came into the room and right over to her, grabbing her bound hands and pulling her to her feet.

"Time to go." He muttered, shoving her towards the door.

"No need to shove." She told him sweetly. And he pushed her even harder in the back.

They tossed her in the back of flashy four wheeled drive and, in addition to her tied hands, snapped some handcuffs on her through the handle of the door. She had no intention of going anywhere; she had no need. She knew they wouldn't kill her; she was the only one who knew how to activate the chip. And she wouldn't do it. Jack had her son and if she gave in; even under duress, she knew he'd never let her see Billy again.

**xxx**

After Jack left Billy at CTU, he headed away from the building and flicked on the tracker he'd had inserted into Danni's arm. She wouldn't feel it; it was smaller then a grain of rice, and it wouldn't be detected. But it let him know where she was. He had the device wired to his PDA so he clicked it on and waited, hoping that it hadn't been discovered and removed. Sure enough, a small red light began blinking on the screen. It was moving. Jack got out his phone and dialed Chloe's number.

"O'Brien." She answered in a hurried voice.

"Chloe; it's me." Jack answered. "How's Billy?"

"Fine. He's with Sara." She told Jack.

Sara was the Group Leader in the CTU day care centre that had been started the year before. She was young but knew her stuff; Jack knew Billy would like her. "How's Buchannon?"

"Still pissed." Chloe answered. "He's got us all working on finding Maliqe like you said; you must've asked the President for a massive favour."

Jack didn't answer that. "Can you link up to my PDA? I need you to use CTU's satellite clearance to track down Danni; I can't get a visual."

"On it." Chloe answered, tapping away expertly at her computer. "Ok, I'm in. I should have something in five minutes or so."

"Good." Jack hung up. Checking back with is PDA he saw that they were heading West away from the marina. So Jack started the engine and head back the way he'd come.

He passed quite a few businesses that had been looted or closed down, abandoned houses and very few people on the streets. Since bombs had started going off unexpectedly a few years back, LA had changed. Many of its original inhabitants had left for safer cities. Jack didn't blame them; LA was no longer a safe place to raise a family. He knew Kim had left a couple of years ago and although he didn't have any contact with her; he knew she was safe. Jack was interrupted in his thoughts as his cell rang. He clicked the hands free button.

"Yeah, Chloe, what have you got?" Jack answered.

"Hello, Mr. Bauer." A male voice answered.

Jack recognized that he had a Middle Eastern accent. Bringing his car to a halt, Jack snatched the phone from the hands free and held it to his ear. "Who is this?"

"My name is Maliqe Shiraz." He said proudly.

"Sonuvabitch." Jack muttered under his breath. "What do you want?"

"I understand that it is you who wants something. Namely; myself." He told Jack. "I'm calling to negotiate a truce. You stop looking for me and I won't come after you."

"You think I'm scared of you?" Jack almost laughed into the phone. "I'm gonna hunt you down you son of a bitch."

"Leave us alone...or I'll kill her."

Jack always knew that Danni would be in danger from Maliqe; she'd wronged him earlier that day. But she was the only one to activate the bomb; Maliqe wouldn't extinguish his only chance at destroying the President. "No you won't. You need her."

"For _this_ bomb, maybe." Maliqe replied in an evilly syrupy tone.

Jack paused. "You son of a bitch."

"Say it as many times as you like, Jack, it won't stop being true." Maliqe told him. "Cease looking for me or this bomb will be the _last _problem on your mind." And with that; he hung up the phone.

Jack sat with his cell to his ear for a few seconds before slamming it back into the hands free device. He couldn't stop looking for Maliqe; he had just pleaded with the President of the United States to let him go ahead with this plan; he couldn't just quit. He wouldn't.

Jamming the car into gear Jack screeched his car back onto the road and continued on. Moments later he got a call from Chloe saying that Danni was on the move and heading away from the marina towards Underfield. Jack didn't think twice and followed.

**xxx**

Danni wasn't sure where they were headed. Ahkmed was behind the wheel. Throughout the drive he and the other man had been talking in Middle Eastern and Danni had discovered the bald passenger's name was Hugo. She couldn't understand what they were saying but she made out the name Maliqe several times. She stared out the window into the night. The storm was still coming in; the clouds were growing more and more ominous. She didn't recognize any of her surroundings; but she rarely traveled to this side of the marina. But she assumed that with the lack of modern life surrounding them they were heading out into the more desolate parts of the city. She'd had a friend, Sara, who lived out in a place like this. You drove down desert-like streets and then it was suddenly there, a multi million dollar estate. Although, since the bombings had started in LA it had been almost abandoned. Even Sara and her husband had taken off.

It took Danni a few moments to realize that they were slowing down. Ahkmed pulled off the road onto what looked like a dirt paddock. It wasn't even a road; he just cut across the land. She wondered momentarily if she was going to drive them into an empty field and kill her. But soon they approached a large, sturdy barn standing on its own beside an abandoned farmhouse. It seemed to have been left many years ago, everything about the place looked dead.

Ahkmed got out of the car and immediately removed Danni from the back seat. He uncuffed her, but made sure her ropes were still tight. Danni realized that the pressure of the ropes was actually staunching the bleeding from her hand wound. She would've laughed if she wasn't in such a depressing situation. Hugo locked the car and followed Danni and Ahkmed towards the barn. Knocking three times, Ahkmed waited by the door until three similar knocks sounded back. Hugo stepped forwards and opened the door. Ahkmed led Danni into the barn where she surveyed the scene around her. There were many more men in here, she counted about ten or twelve. They were all bustling around, doing there own thing. The main action seemed to be around the centre of the barn where a computer was set up on an old car table. Beside it was a large, expensive looking metal container that was lying open on the floor.

Inside this container was the bomb.

Danni had never seen something so complex in all her life. It was in a transparent case so she could see all the wires and components that went into it. There wasn't a timer on it or anything but even so; it looked menacing.

Out of a back room, what Danni assumed may have been a tools or weapons shed, came a man whose sneer threw Danni into a sense of anger and hatred that actually made her feel nauseas. Maliqe Shiraz glared at her as he walked over. He paused in front of Danni, locking eyes with her for a few moments. Then he slapped her hard in the face with the back of his hand.

Danni tried not to flinch, even though her eyes began to water. She turned back to him and glared. "Ow." She said irritably. He slapped her again. This time she tasted blood in her mouth. She knew this was only the beginning for her. Maliqe was going to torture her and he was going to enjoy it. She'd tricked him; kept the microchip in her possession and then taken his money. And now that he knew this; he wasn't going to let her off easy.

Maliqe looked up to Ahkmed. "The chip?" Ahkmed grinned and handed his boss the microchip from his pocket. Maliqe stared at it for a few moments, making sure Danni could see him, and then walked away. "Take her to the back shed."

Ahkmed snatched her up roughly and pulled her along to the shed Maliqe had just exited. He tossed her in there and shut the door immediately; leaving Danni alone.

Happy to be left to her own devices, Danni glanced around her new abode. It was smaller then the last room, about the size of her bathroom at her mother's home. There were no windows and the only way out appeared to be the door into the barn. The back wall was also a wall of the barn; behind it Danni could hear crickets chirping in the cool night air. As for furniture, there was a crummy camping bed shoved against one side with moth-eaten blankets covering it. There were empty beer cans and food wrappers on the floor. Danni suspected this is where someone called home; although she couldn't see straight laced, Prada loving, million dollar Maliqe in here. She leant her head against the far wall of the room and listened to the sounds of the night; letting her mind wander.

She didn't have a long time to think, however, because Maliqe entered the room. He stormed right up to Danni, grabbed her wrist and shoved her back against the wall causing her to grunt.

"I talked to your friend, Bauer." Maliqe sneered at her. "Nice fellow."

"What do you want?" she asked.

"You know what I want." Maliqe told her. "I have the chip. It's only a matter of time. Either you help us with this bomb and live...or we kill you and start again. Make a bigger bomb, kill your son; you're friend Bauer...everyone."

Danni looked up at him; almost tears in her eyes, letting him think he'd got to her. Then she spat in his face. She laughed as he wiped his eye. Maliqe shoved her into the back wall heavily and left her alone. Still laughing somewhat manically, Danni let herself sink to the floor.


	15. Chapter 15

**CHAPTER FIFTEEN**

**Hour Seven**

**10:00-11:00**

Jack arrived in deserted Underfield unsure where to go next. Danni's tracking device was still active but it was motionless. He had to keep telling himself that Maliqe needed her; that he wouldn't kill her. But the niggling thought that kept appearing at the back of his mind was that he'd follow Danni's signal until he found her heaped body lying in a ditch somewhere with a bullet in the back of her head.

As his surroundings became even more desolate, Jack kept an eye out for any obvious signs of another car. He was driving along an empty highway when he saw tracks leading across a field. From what he could see; they looked new so Jack spun his SUV off the road and followed them.

**xxx**

Danni was restless. She had been rocking back and forth for about twenty minutes before she realized she was doing it. Her right hand was going numb from the tightness of the ropes coupled with her injury. She managed to loosen it and let the blood flow more freely. She was desperate to just kick down the back wall and run away; feel the wind rustling through her hair as she left it all behind. But this was a wish she didn't dare entertain.

She could hear the voices of all the men in the other room; they were growing more and more animated causing Danni to sense something very big and very bad in the near future. And that would mean they'd need her to start up the software sometime soon.

Over the past hour or so she'd been in this shed of a room, Danni had somewhat come to terms with that fact that, bar some unforeseen miracle, she wasn't going to live through to see the morning. The President was meant to arrive in LA at about six am. She wasn't sure where or when the bomb was going to go off but it would be before his 'Meet The People' gathering in town at eight in the morning. Danni highly doubted she was going to survive until then.

All she wanted to do was talk to someone, anyone, about her son. Jack was the first one to come to mind. She made a mental note to call him the moment she got the opportunity and tell him what she wanted to happen with Billy. The only other family he had was his grandmother; Mark's mother. The woman had major issues with Danni; she thought she was a 'vacant mother', as she called it. Which was actually true; Danni had spent most of Billy's short life embroiled with Al-Haeq and trying to keep them from finding out about her family. But as much as she hated Danni, Sylvia worshipped Billy; called him the splitting image of Mark; whom she also adored. Danni knew she would take better care of her son then Danni could ever hope to. But she'd never told anyone this and if she was killed before she was able to it would cause a wave of legal problems.

The door to Danni's 'room' screeched open and Ahkmed stormed in. He swiftly grabbed Danni by the upper shoulder and pulled her to her feet; practically dragging her into the main area of the barn. She noticed that more then half of the men were preparing to leave, but Maliqe simply stood steadly in front of his beloved bomb; smirking at Danni. Ahkmed shoved her into chair in front of Maliqe and then stepped back with Hugo.

Maliqe sauntered up to Danni. "The bomb is ready to be prepared. The timer is set; everything is ready." He knelt in front of her face. "We just need you to start the software."

Danni sighed. "No." She said happily. Now that she'd made peace with the fact that she was going to die; she intended to go down laughing. And pissing off Maliqe, of course.

"We have learned how to use your damn program." Maliqe sneered. "But you and Micah are the only two with access codes. And he's dead."

The mention of Micah stung Danni's heart; he'd been a good friend to her. But it also made her realize that since she'd made the trade, herself for her son, she hadn't seen Rahjid; Micah's brother. As far as Danni knew, he was Maliqe's right hand man. She wondered if Maliqe had killed him off; thought of him as a loose end.

Danni was interrupted in her daydream by a sharp slap in the face. When she recovered from the initial shock; she looked up at Maliqe. "That wasn't very nice." She told him in a mothering tone.

"All you have to do is give me your access code." Maliqe whispered harshly. "And I'll let you go."

Danni laughed. "Oh, come on now. What kind of terrorist would you be if you let me go?" she tutted him. "Gotta brush up on those skills." This time when he slapped her, his jeweled ring caught her skin, ripping a tear in her cheek.

Maliqe leaned right up to her until his nose was barely an inch from her own. "I can make this very, _very_ painful for you."

Danni grinned. "Go for it."

**xxx**

As soon as Jack spotted the barn, he veered left and drove until he hit the forest and ditched his car. He went to the trunk and retrieved two handguns. One he loaded and hit the safety on before sliding it into the back of his jeans. The second gun he loaded and kept in his hand. He stuffed extra ammo into his pockets then locked his SUV.

Keeping to the forest's edge, Jack swiftly ran towards the barn. There were a number of expensive looking cars behind it and some dim lights emitting from the small, cloudy windows. Jack checked his PDA; Danni was still motionless. She was in that barn.

Jack continued on. He was about fifty feet from the barn and had run out of forest to hide in. He was going to have to run for it. He spotted some gas cans connecting to the barn and immediately began formulating a plan. But he couldn't do anything until he got Danni out of the barn and made sure the bomb wouldn't go off. He needed to see through the window. Jack prepared himself to run but immediately had to hide again as the back door of the barn opened. Jack watched from behind a thick tree as seven or eight men come out and pile into three different cars. Jack saw that they were talking in harsh voices in Middle Eastern. He didn't see Danni or Maliqe or the two men who Jack had seen at the trade. He waited until all three cars were merely dust in the wind before checking his PDA again. Danni was still in a stationary position.

He waited a few moments more, to make sure no one else came out, and then cocked his gun and sped towards the barn. Once he hit the old, wooden plank walls, Jack waited. He expected to here gunfire or the sound of someone coming towards him but all he heard was familiar night noises. He hadn't been seen. He edged along the outer walls until he heard a voice yelling. Peering into the window that was to the left of, Jack surveyed the scene.

Inside the barn, Danni was still laughing but also very much in pain. Maliqe had sent his men away from the barn so he could conduct his tortures in peace. The only other people in the room where Hugo and Ahkmed. They sat in chairs against the wall near the front of the barn reassembling their guns.

Maliqe insisted on torturing Danni on his own. She was his pet; he was going to punish her whichever way he chose. Right now that involved using his knife. "The code, Danielle." Maliqe taunted her, sliding his knife down her left arm, cutting the skin. "Give me the code and I'll stop."

Danni held her breath to try and keep from feeling the pain; although it didn't help. She tried to picture her son; Billy was safe as long as she kept her mouth shut. She had to stay silent. She _had_ to for her baby. She looked up at Maliqe, sweat pouring down her face. "Who said I wanted you to stop?" She spat at him through ragged breaths.

Maliqe clenched his jaw and headed back to the table beside the bomb. He kept silent with this back turned for a few moments. "Alright, Danielle." He finally said. When he turned back; he was loading a gun. "If this is how you want to play; then this is how we'll play." He wandered back over to her casually. "Do you know how long it takes to bleed to death from a leg wound?"

Danni didn't answer.

"I guess we're about to find out." He smiled evilly and quickly pointed the gun at her leg.

Danni tensed all her muscles as a gun went off twice. It only took her a second to realize it hadn't come from Maliqe. Turning she saw Jack storming into the barn and taking out both Hugo and Ahkmed. Before he could turn his gun on Maliqe, the man grabbed Danni and used her as a shield, one arm around her neck and the other pointing his gun at Jack. The two men kept this stance for several moments.

Jack had surveyed the scene thoroughly before he entered the barn. He knew Maliqe only had two other operatives in there and that they were both immersed in reassembling their guns. He knew the bomb was the same make and model of one Al-Haeq's bombs Jack had seen earlier that day when he'd researched the group; it was practically indestructible until it was armed. A person could toss it down a hill and nothing would happen. Only when the code was inputted was it tentative to be moved. And Danni was the only one with that code.

As he stared into the eyes of Maliqe, Jack knew that Danni was also watching him but he didn't want to look into her eyes; he feared how seeing her would affect his judgment. So he just kept his gun on Maliqe.

"Jack Bauer, I presume." Maliqe sneered at him.

"Let her go." Jack ordered him.

"But as you so rightly said on the phone 'I need her'." Maliqe smirked. "Why would I let her go?"

Danni had her eyes locked on Jack. _He came back_, she said to herself. She couldn't believe it. _Why did he come back?_ She tried to catch his eye; mentally tell him to leave her; that she wasn't worth it, but he wouldn't look in her direction.

Jack unfortunately didn't have an answer for Maliqe's question. But at that moment he didn't care. He had his man; he wasn't going to let himself slip up.

"Did you not think I prepared for this, Agent Bauer?" Maliqe asked malevolently.

As he finished speaking, the door to Danni's 'cell' opened and two men came out firing their weapons. Jack ducked behind a table before the bullets hit him but he lost sight of Danni and Maliqe. Waiting for the gunfire to cease as the men reloaded their weapons, Jack peered around the side of the desk he was using for cover and fired. He winged one guy in the shoulder and he went down but the other ducked back into the shed and out of sight. Jack kept his gun poised and the second the man revealed himself, Jack shot him directly in the neck. With both adversaries out of the way; Jack quickly scanned the room and saw Maliqe only a few feet from the back exit.

"Freeze!" He called, running towards Danni with his gun raised.

Maliqe halted and turned, once again using Danni as a human shield. He now had his gun to her neck. In the struggle, Danni had managed to retrieve Maliqe's knife from the table beside the bomb. By keeping one hand to her side she was able to keep it out of Maliqe's sight. Ironically; his holding her body in front of his own was obstructing his view of the weapon. She needed to show Jack that she was armed.

"Give it up; you got nowhere to go." Jack spat at Maliqe, not taking his eyes off him for a second.

"Are you quite sure of that, Agent Bauer?" Maliqe asked, tightening his grip on Danni.

Jack readjusted his grip on his gun and was mentally going over the pros and cons of shooting Maliqe in the head (Would Maliqe have time to fire his gun before he fell? Would he miss and hit Danni?) when he saw something glint in Danni's hand. Looking at it he saw it was a knife. Jack allowed himself to glance at her only briefly but the look in her eyes told him she was ready.

Danni jammed the knife backwards into Maliqe's leg as hard as she could; he reared forwards, loosening his grip on her but toppling on top of her as he fell to the ground.

No longer with Maliqe in his line of sight, Jack had to move ahead fast to aim but just as he raised his gun, he heard a loud bang and then felt a searing pain slice through his body. Stumbling to the ground, Jack realized he'd been shot in the shoulder. His right shoulder, to be precise. Right where his heart would be if he'd been shot on the left. The pain was excruciating and the blood spilled like an overflowing river.

"Jack!" Danni called out, having seen him fall. She managed to get up from under Maliqe and grab his gun. Ahead of her she saw one of the men who had stormed out of the shed when Jack arrived; he'd been shot in the shoulder but wasn't dead. He was stumbling over to Jack, who lay uselessly on the ground. Danni emptied the gun into the man without a second thought. He collapsed in a heap. Realizing she was out of ammo, Danni turned and kicked Maliqe in the temple; knocking him out. Hearing a faint rumbling in the distance, Danni realized that a number of cars were coming. Thinking that it was most likely CTU, seeing as Jack had found her here, she hurried over to him to check out his wound.

With the adrenaline pumping, Jack was still conscious and aware of what was going on around him but his right arm was useless. He looked up at Danni as she arrived beside him. "Maliqe; we gotta get him."

"He's out." Danni told him. "You're people are coming; they can deal with him." She looked over Jack's wound without touching it. It wasn't looking good.

"Wait, my people are coming?" Jack looked up at Danni.

"Well; someone is." Danni told him.

Jack listened and he too heard the cars approaching. But he also knew that CTU was a good half hour away from Underfield; there was no way this was them. "We gotta get out of here." Jack said, trying to get to his feet.

Danni tried to push Jack back down. "Wait, Jack, you're people-"

"They aren't my people!" Jack yelled. "They're his!" He jerked his head towards the unconscious Maliqe.

Now Danni was worried. She had to get out of there and fast. And she had to take Jack with her. Slinging his arm over her shoulder she led him towards Maliqe, towards the back exit.

"Wait; the bomb." Jack realized looking back and seeing it gleaming on the desk.

"It's useless without my code." Danni told him as she pulled him along.

"We need to take him with us." Jack nodded down to Maliqe.

Danni knew she couldn't carry both of them. "You first." She muttered.

"No; leave me. You take him back to CTU." Jack told her.

"I'm not leaving you here; they'll kill you!" She nodded her head in the direction of the looming convoy.

"I'll be fine." Jack said, wincing and holding a hand over his bullet wound.

"You're hurt!" She countered, kicking down the back door.

Jack tried unsuccessfully to pull out of Danni's grasp; but she wouldn't let him go. "Danni, he's right there! I have to take him back!"

"You can't!" Danni screamed. "Come on!" She pulled him towards one of Maliqe's SUV's. Jack resisted coming with her even more. "Dammit, Jack, come on! We have to get out of here!" Finally she felt him relent. A horrible thought ran through Danni that Jack had passed out; but he was still stumbling along, leaning heavily into her as he did so.

Danni heaved Jack into the passengers' seat and ran around to the driver's side. She could see the three other SUV's packed with very angry members of Al-Haeq speeding towards the barn; but she didn't think they knew what had happened inside the barn yet. She assumed Maliqe had told them only to leave for ten minutes or so and then return; perhaps he'd thought torturing her for the code would be a quick process.

Jack kept an eye on the approaching enemy as Danni climbed into the car. He only looked towards her when he heard a crashing sound. Snapping his head in her direction Jack saw that Danni hadn't even attempted to look for the keys; she'd broken off the underside of the steering panel and was now hotwiring the vehicle. Jack noticed she used his _exact_ technique. "Hey, where'd you learn to do that?" Jack inquired in a low voice, still firmly clutching his shoulder, as Danni reversed the car.

Glancing over at him, Danni couldn't help but smile slightly at his question; she wasn't surprised he didn't remember. Their first date had been twenty-five years ago. "From you." She smiled before shoving the car into gear and speeding the hell out of there. But Maliqe's men were right on their tail.


	16. Chapter 16

**CHAPTER SIXTEEN**

**Hour Seven Continued**

**10:00-11:00**

Danni was still getting used to driving the car and the fact that she had three SUV's full of armed men following her was not helping the situation. She wasn't sure where she was heading. She managed to find the deserted road she'd traveled with Hugo and Ahkmed and continued on away from LA.

"I'm bleeding." Jack spoke up from the passengers' seat. "Bad."

Danni looked over at him for the first time since they'd pulled away from the barn. Jack was in bad shape. Danni's mind flashed back to earlier that day when she nursed Micah through a bullet wound in the stomach. She hadn't been able to save him; she didn't want to make that mistake again. She glanced in the back and saw a discarded jacket. She retrieved it and handed it to Jack. "Hold this against it; hard." Danni knew she was telling him something he already knew; but she didn't want to take any chances.

Jack tried unsuccessfully to stifle a groan of pain as he forced himself to push the jacket against his right shoulder. He wasn't sure if the bullet was still in his arm or not. If it was; that put him in worse shape. The injury could get infected, rust the bullet and be absorbed into his blood. It needed to be cleaned. And soon.

Pulling down a side street, Danni glanced in her rearview and saw all three cars follow. Two were a good hundred and fifty feet behind her, but one was speeding ahead of the others and Danni could see one of the men sitting himself on the window.

"Watch your head." Jack spoke up; watching through the same mirror.

Seconds later the back window was shot repeatedly; smashing little pieces of glass all over the back seat. Danni and Jack both hunched down in their seats, Danni trying desperately to keep control of the car. Ahead of her was a sharp left turn. She almost spun out as she took it without slowing. In the rearview she saw one of the following SUV's spin in a complete circle before tipping on its side.

"One down." Danni said aloud, righting the wheels and continuing on. She glanced over at Jack and saw his head loll to one side. He blinked forcefully to try and stay conscious. "Jack, no!" Danni reached over and grabbed the front of his shirt. "Do not black out on me!" She yelled angrily. "Stay awake, come on!" She grabbed his chin and looked away from the road for a moment. She stared him right in the eyes. "Stay. Awake." She said forcefully.

Jack didn't realize he'd almost blacked out until Danni grabbed him. The blood loss was getting to him; he hated feeling so weak. He was Jack Bauer; he didn't need help. He sat as straight as he could in his seat and leant his head back on the headrest. The movement shot pain waves throughout his body.

"You okay?" Danni asked, glancing at him every few seconds from behind the wheel.

"Yeah." Jack muttered in a dry voice.

Tyres screeched behind them. Danni looked and saw both SUV's were getting closer. She floored the accelerator and tried not to think about them too much. She was going so fast that the surroundings, which had become a thin stretch of forest about a mile back, were blurred. Danni had a vague idea of where she was but absolutely no idea where she was headed. She needed to get Jack somewhere safe to take care of his injury but hospitals; police stations and the like were way too public. She didn't want to unleash the men following her on unsuspecting citizens.

Up ahead Jack saw that the road inclined at the upcoming corner. It wasn't terribly steep but it was on a high hill and if Danni kept going at this speed she was there was no way they were going to stay on the road. Glancing in the rearview mirror, Jack saw that Maliqe's men obviously had not thought of this; they were still barreling towards them and gaining fast. A thought occurred to Jack, possibly the only way to get rid of their adversaries.

"Break." Jack said, turning to Danni.

"What?" She didn't even look in his direction.

"Hit the breaks." Jack told her.

"What?!" Danni looked over at him obviously confused.

"Do it now!" Jack yelled.

Danni slammed her foot down on the breaks just as another bullet blew out a tire. The two SUV's went sailing past Danni and Jack on either side. Both headed for the incline. One managed to stop while the other soared right over the edge; followed seconds later by an explosion.

The SUV under Danni's hand was spinning out of control. The tire was basically gone; she could hear the metal scraping along the ground as she swerved from left to right. She spun the wheel as far to the left as she could; trying to right the steering, but it was no use, the car toppled down the hill.

"Hang on!" She screamed.

They were airborne technically for about six seconds but it felt like forever. The car did one full rotation before landing on its rear. Danni's head banged against the roof hard, causing her to let go of the wheel. The car, engine now completely shot, kept moving quite fast due to the height of the hill. When Danni recovered and grabbed at the wheel, she saw something ahead of her that was glinting in the moonlight. It took her a few seconds to realize it was a dam. She slammed the breaks but nothing happened; the line had been severed in the impact of the crash. She tried steering them out of the way with no avail; the steering was completely smashed.

The SUV plunged front first into the dam.

**xxx**

Back at CTU, Chloe was hard at work tracking down as much information on Maliqe as she could. She wasn't having much luck; nothing new was cropping up. Since President Palmer had given the orders to follow Jack's plan; CTU was tense. Buchannon hadn't left his office since he got the call. It was easy to see how furious he was. Chloe couldn't blame him; Jack was trusting a woman that he _used_ to know. To Chloe that wasn't enough. But apparently it was enough for the President. Chloe brought up the satellite that manned Danni's tacking device. At first she thought she missed it but when she glanced over it again; she saw she was right. The signal was gone.

Immediately picking up her phone, Chloe called Buchannon's office. "Bill; I lost Danielle's signal."

"What?" Bill snapped into the phone.

"The chip Jack injected to Danni when she was in our medical station; I've been monitoring it on the satellite. It's gone." She said hurriedly.

"I thought those things were undetectable." Bill replied loudly.

"They are." Chloe confirmed.

Bill sighed on the other end of the line. "What was her last position?"

Chloe checked the satellite. "She was heading further out of LA, past Underfield." Hitting a few keys Chloe brought up the map from two minutes before when Danni's signal still showed. "The satellite from two minutes ago shows them heading along the Madison Highway. It just stops dead." She hit a few more keys. "I have her covering five miles in under a minute; she was going somewhere fast."

"Last place you have her; is there anything nearby?" Bill asked. "Warehouses? Properties? Anything?"

Chloe checked. "The land is pretty much all abandoned; residents took off when the bombs started in LA. It's empty land; only thing there is a dam." Chloe paused. "The dam is right where I lost the signal."

"Get our chopper in the air and send them the co-ordinates of that dam." Bill ordered Chloe. "Get a ground team together and tell them this is priority one. And get Jack on the phone. Now!"

**xxx**

Though it wasn't a deep dam, it was deep enough to swallow the SUV. And that's exactly what it did. Since the back of the car was basically all crumbled and the window was missing; it filled fast. Danni managed to kick her door open and wade out into the dam. Her feet hit the ground and the water settled just below her hips. She pushed her way through the muddy water with the sound of the SUV disappearing behind her. It was then that she realized she hadn't heard Jack's voice since before they went over the hill. She quickly turned around on the spot. Through the sinking window of the car she saw his body slumped over the dashboard.

Her first instinct was to go back for him. But then a voice in her head told her to stop. She looked up at the hill and saw the fireball that was the car that had gone over the edge. She also saw headlights and heard screeching tires heading back the way they'd come; apparently they thought a roll over the hill would kill Jack and Danni. They were half right. Danni was free. She could run now. She didn't look back to Jack; she just kept heading for the shore. It was only when she was on the land that she realized she was crying.

Then she thought of Billy. He was alone at CTU; waiting for her. She could run; yes. But then what would happen to Billy? Both of his parents deserting him on the same day? He was three; he wouldn't understand. And Jack...he'd come back for her. She wasn't sure why but that struck a chord in her. Her chest heaving, trying to get her breath back, Danni turned, terrified that the car would be completely submerged.

She literally breathed a sigh of relief when she saw the car still sticking out of the water. It seemed to be stuck in a way. She could still see Jack, head above water, in the passenger's seat. But the water had completely surrounded him and was halfway up his chest.

Danni glanced once more up the hill; it was almost beckoning her to run. But she didn't. She waded back into the dam towards the car. "Jack?!" She yelled as she headed for the passenger's side door. "Jack!" He wasn't answering her. Worry was now settling within the centre of Danni's chest. Tears were still falling out her eyes; tears of shock, tears of worry, tears of fear; they all just kept coming.

When she reached the drivers side door Danni reached in the broken window and felt for Jack's pulse. It was strong; he'd just been knocked out. "Jack?" Danni pushed him back against the seat. His bullet wound was bleeding into the already dirty water; she had to get him out of there. She had to reach underwater to try and open the door from the outside; it was pretty water logged. She reached in through the window and held the door handle open with her injured hand. With her other hand she held the window pane and yanked as hard as she could. The door budged slightly out of its position. Danni pulled it again and it opened completely out of the lock. Danni pushed her back against it to hold it open and reached for Jack.

"Hey, Jack?" She took his head in both hands and slapped him. "Jack! It's Danni; wake up." She shook his head slightly; noticing a nasty cut across his forehead. "Come on, Jack, please wake up." Her voice shook as she spoke. She realized her hands her shaking. Then she became very aware of how cold it was. There was a cool, night breeze and the water only added to the dropping temperature. Danni was cold and she was pretty much okay. Jack on the other hand was not. She felt his forehead and realize he was actually really hot. "Oh god." Danni muttered. He had a temperature; that was a symptom of infection. Micah had been burning hot when she'd dropped him at the hospital and he'd died an hour later. "Jack!" Danni decided to take drastic measures and pushed against his bullet wound.

Jack felt a burning pain in his shoulder as his eyes flew open. It took him a minute to realize he was sitting in a smashed up SUV up to his chest in water. Danni had a hold of his collar and was trying to get him to look at her.

"Jack? Look at me." Danni was saying.

Jack managed to look in her direction and lock eyes with her. She was out of the car and she didn't appear to be all that injured. _Why did she come back for me?_ Jack wondered. If he'd been in her position he would've run.

"We gotta get outta here." Danni said hurriedly. She kept thinking back to hearing the surviving SUV drive away at the top of the hill; they may just be going back to get reinforcements. And they would for sure come back and check if they were dead. "Come on." Danni reached into the car and grabbed Jack's good arm.

Jack managed to get himself out of the car but he had to lean almost completely on Danni; the blood loss was affecting his ability to walk so Danni had to practically drag him up onto the bank. When they reached the land, Danni collapsed onto her knees in exhaustion. Jack fell with her, breathing just as heavily. Danni sat down and held Jack in her lap holding his head against her shoulder. From this angle she got an all new view of his bullet wound; it looked even worse.

Suddenly, Danni became aware of sirens in the distance. Someone must've called the police. Whatever the reason; she had to get out of there. If the police found her with Jack in his condition it was going to be incredibly difficult to talk her way out of it. The storm clouds that had been covering the moon dispersed and a white glow shone over the dam. The SUV was sinking again; slowly but surely. In the moonlight Danni noticed a wooden sign sticking out of the ground beside the water. It read _Longreach Dam_. Danni's heart lifted; she knew where they could go.

"Come on." As exhausted as she was, Danni got to her feet and heaved Jack up with her. The shock was wearing off and she becoming aware of a lot of dull aches, stings and pains all over her body; from the crash and her previous torturing by Maliqe. But she didn't complain. She didn't have time.

Jack was slightly more alert now but his right arm was completely numb. He could walk straight for a few steps but then he'd stumble into Danni and knock her slightly.

He had to hand it to her; she never complained once.


	17. Chapter 17

**CHAPTER SEVENTEEN**

**Hour Eight**

**11:00-12:00**

Danni was halfway up a steep hill when the clouds grew incredibly dark and the rain finally started to fall. It was light at first but grew heavier quite quickly. Still with Jack hanging off her arm, Danni pushed on. He was in bad shape; she hoped where they were going had medicine; he needed antibiotics. She wasn't a doctor by any means but with what she'd seen working so close to Al-Haeq, she knew more then basic First Aid.

"Where are we goin'?" Jack asked tiredly. It had taken him ten minutes to get the energy to say that one sentence.

"I know a place." Danni said. She wanted to keep Jack alert so she kept talking. "My friend Sara and her husband have a house in the estate on top of this hill. They took off when the bombs started, the whole development was abandoned. They left quickly so most of their stuff is still there." Danni paused. "We'll be safe there." She wasn't sure if Jack was listening to her but at least he was somewhat walking.

Having gotten a second wind, Jack felt a slightly stronger so the last few steps up the hill weren't as grueling as they could have been. He was drifting in and out; sometimes very aware of what was going on, other times realizing his eyes were closed and he'd been out of it for a few minutes.

When they reached the top of the hill, Danni recognized the Frankton Estate sign just ahead of them. It had been damaged in and was half coming off its stand but it still gave Danni hope; they were close. The rain softened the ground but also made it incredibly hard for Danni and Jack to keep from slipping. They neared the white estate gates and Danni was happy to see that they were slightly ajar. Pushing through them, Danni pressed on. She was almost there now. Sara's old house was at the end of the street. The homes they passed varied in damage; a large tree had fallen straight through the centre of one home while another had been damaged by fire. All of their gardens were overgrown and some had items that had been left behind scattered over lawns; as though people had taken off in a hurry.

Sara's two-story home was one of the less-damaged ones, although a couple of windows were broken but there was nothing off putting about it. Danni couldn't believe they'd finally made it; they'd probably been walking for about an hour. In the distance she could hear the sound of a chopper slicing through the air. She wanted to get inside; fast. She heaved Jack around the side of the house to the back laundry door; Sara always left it open since her husband, Harry, would come home late; he didn't want to wake her by walking through the front door.

As Danni pushed into the home; she realized the door hadn't been opened in years. Dust flew up into the air as Danni walked Jack inside. She shut and locked the door behind her; but she couldn't relax yet; she had to get Jack in the shower. She'd been very aware of how hot he'd been getting as they'd walked. The home had two bathrooms, one downstairs and one up. Danni was tempted to just take Jack to the downstairs bathroom but she didn't want to be on the first level; she wasn't sure why. So instead she pushed on and heaved Jack up the stairs.

Every bone and muscle in Jack's body ached; he'd used them all to their limits in the past hour and now he was paying for it. Danni got him to the top level of the house and urged him on; saying that he could rest soon.

When they got in the bathroom, Danni pushed open the shower door and took Jack inside. It was big enough for the two of them so Danni laid Jack on the floor and turned on the cold shower. Then she went to the bathroom sink and found a pair of scissors. She came back to Jack and cut off his shirt so he wouldn't have to move his arm to take it off. Kneeling in front of Jack under the cold water Danni pulled him forwards and saw that there was no exit wound; that meant the bullet was still in Jack's body; Danni had to get it out but there was no way she could do it now; she had no energy left. She sat down and shuffled beside Jack; not caring about the water hitting her; she was drenched from the dam and the rain anyway. She felt Jack's head; he was still hot but at least he was being showered in clean water. Danni leant back against the shower wall and closed her eyes.

**xxx**

Jack awoke in the shower about twenty minutes later realizing he was in fact in a bathroom. He saw Danni out of the corner of his eye with her head against the wall and her eyes closed. He didn't say anything. His arm ached like crazy but he felt as though he was cooling down.

Danni opened her eyes and saw Jack with his open. "Hey." She said happily, turning more towards him. "How do you feel? You look better."

"I'm fine." Jack said defensively.

"Well; no you're not." Danni told him. "The bullet's still in your arm; I have to get it out or you'll die." She added simply.

"Can't go to a hospital." Jack said, closing his eyes as another wave of pain came over him.

"I know; _I'm_ gonna do it." Danni said, getting to her feet. She reached down and took Jack's good arm. "Come on; I have to get it out sooner rather then later." She heaved Jack to his feet. Her body was stiff from sitting down for so long and she could tell Jack's was the same. But they managed to make it to the master bedroom.

Danni sat Jack in a chair while she quickly threw on a bathrobe that was lying nearby so she wouldn't drip water all over the clean bed. Then she unmade and remade the bed; she knew that Jack had to lie in a bed that was a sterile as possible. She found new sheets in the linen closet and made the bed. Then she helped Jack lie on it before hurrying back to the bathroom. There was a basket of soaps on the sink; Danni emptied them out and proceeded to fill the basket with whatever she could find that might help Jack. Bandages, suture kits, tweezers, anti-bacterial ointments and the like. Then she hit the jackpot; a small container of pills labeled Vancocin; a drug that kills bacteria that cause infection. The bottle was addressed to Sara and claimed to be penicillin based; just what she was looking for. Penicillin would kill the germs in Jack's arm. She grabbed some clean towels and a few other things before rushing back to the bedroom. Then she ran to the kitchen and filled a bowl with warm water. She carefully brought that upstairs and into the bedroom. Jack was right where she left him; sitting up against the headboard with his eyes closed.

Jack felt Danni sit beside him on the bed. He opened his eyes and saw she had a basket of medical items. He saw her opening a box of hair dye and removed a pair of disposable plastic gloves. She caught his eye as she pulled them on. "You sure you know how to do this?" Jack asked tiredly.

Danni got to her feet and dragged a chair over beside the bed so she had better access to Jack's wound. "We're about to find out." She smiled nervously. She leant closer to him and wet one of the towels in the bowl of water. As slowly and as gently as she could, Danni cleaned the wound. She had found some Betadine in the cabinet and had mixed it with the water so it would kill the germs around the wound.

Trying his best not to think about what Danni was doing, Jack's mind flashed back to his conversation with President Palmer. He'd been allowed to follow his lead; to trust Danni, and now Maliqe was gone again. Although at least he'd been injured. And Danni was the only way to arm the bomb. Even though Maliqe had the chip he still needed her code. To make sure she stayed silent Jack was going to have to protect her. That was; if they ever got out of this place. It was dangerous to be on the road when the only other people they had come into contact with for the last two hours had been members of Al-Haeq.

Danni could see Jack's jaw clench every time she pressed on his skin. But it was going to get worse before it got better. "Ok, I have to get the bullet out now." She said slowly. She felt Jack's body tense.

"Do it." He told her firmly.

Danni poured some of the Betadine over the tweezers and edged closer to Jack's arm. She was about to ask him if he was ready; but thought against it thinking it would just be better to get it over with. She drew a breath, steadied her hand and carefully pushed the tweezers into Jack's arm.

Jack groaned loudly in pain but tried desperately not to move; it would just hurt more. Even though his arm was basically numb, the pain still shot through him in ripples. He could practically feel his skin throbbing.

"Okay, I found it." Danni said, slightly elated, as the tweezers clinked against something metal. She widened them in Jack's arm and they clasped around the bullet. "Almost over." She said soothingly as she retracted the tweezers.

Jack glanced over when he felt Danni get out of his arm. She was holding up a bullet clasped with tweezers in front of her face. "Thanks." Jack told her, breathing heavily from the ordeal.

"You're welcome." She replied, dropping the bullet into the trash beside her. She removed her gloves and threw them out as well. She then pulled out a suture kit and proceeded to start stitching up Jack's wound. With all the pain he'd been in; this didn't really seem to cause much of a reaction.

"Where'd you learn to remove a bullet?" Jack asked curiously, watching her stitch his arm.

Danni looked up at him. "A couple of years ago." She told him. "Just after I met Maliqe. I...I didn't believe he was what he said he was, leader of a terrorist group. So he shot me twice in the leg to prove his point." The memory of that day was still fresh in Danni's mind; Micah had helped her the way she was helping Jack. "And, y'know, I have Billy." She continued. "He loves climbing. Trees; rocks, people. He's constantly falling on things." She smiled to herself.

"He's ok." Jack told her, realizing they hadn't spoken about Billy at all. "I took him back to CTU; he'll be safe there."

Danni stitched a final thread in Jack's arm and tied it off. "Y'know, Jack, with everything that happened before...I never got a chance to thank you for what you did. For taking Billy for me."

Jack didn't reply; he didn't know what to say. So he just nodded at her. She smiled slightly in return and looked away. Jack had the feeling she had wanted him to say more but the moment had passed. Danni got some bandages and carefully covered Jack's wound.

"I, ah, found these pills in the bathroom that should ward off infection." She told him, handing him the pill bottle. "I'll go get you some water." She picked up the bowl of now dirty water and headed out of the room.

"Hey." Jack called after her when she was in the doorway.

"Yeah?" She turned back to him.

"Why didn't you run?" Jack asked.

"What?" Danni stepped slightly back into the room.

"The car was in the dam. I was unconscious. No one would have found you." Jack told her. "Why did you come back for me?"

To Danni, that was a simple question. "Because you came back for me." She shrugged. Then she smiled at him and left the room with Jack's eyes staring after her.


	18. Chapter 18

**CHAPTER EIGHTEEN**

**Hour Nine**

**12:00 – 1:00**

Chloe slammed down her phone for the hundredth time. Buchannon was standing over her desk with a serious look on his face.

"Nothing?" Bill asked.

"Jack's not answering." Chloe said.

"Bill!" Morris called coming over to them both. "Just got off the phone with Daniels."

"Did they find Jack or Danielle?" Bill asked.

Morris shook his head. "No; they're nowhere to be found. But they did find Jack's SUV abandoned in the forest. There was no one in that barn either but the bomb squad guys said there had definitely been explosives in that vicinity."

"They're probably together; Jack and Danni." Chloe voiced. "Jack _was_ going back to help her."

"He was going back to get Maliqe." Bill corrected her. "And he failed." He looked to Morris. "Anything else?"

"They found two SUV's over a cliff near that dam. One had exploded; presumably it was full of Maliqe's men; they discovered three male bodies. The other car they're still pulling out of the water; it might take awhile in the rain."

"Have them call me directly with any news." Bill said sternly before turning and heading back to his office.

**xxx**

After she made sure Jack took the Vancocin pills, Danni used the downstairs bathroom to clean herself up. She took a shower and gratefully washed her hair. She hadn't realized how dirty she was until she looked at the water below her; it was almost black. She also realized how many cuts and bruises she had actually sustained. Her torture wounds from earlier at CTU and with Maliqe were deep and stinging, but she wasn't bleeding anymore. The swelling from cut on her hand from the broken window was almost gone but the cuts were still hurting slightly.

After her shower, Danni changed into some old clothes of Sara's she'd found; a pair of old jeans and a plain white singlet. Danni collected her own soaking wet clothes in a garbage bag to take with her. As abandoned as the house was; she didn't want there to be any evidence she or Jack had been there. Then she went into the kitchen to dress her wounds. She used the side of the toaster as a mirror to place a small bandage on the cut to her head. The cuts on her hand didn't need to be stitched but there was too many to bandage each one so she just wrapped her hand up in a cotton bandage. It was while she was doing this that she noticed a bump in her skin on the back of her hand; right where the wrist and the hand meet. She ran her fingers over it and furrowed her brow. This hadn't been there that morning. And it didn't feel right. She pushed just above the bump and realized that whatever was inside was moving. Then she realized what it was and almost groaned out loud; it was a tracking device. That's how Jack had been able to find out where she was. She hadn't noticed it because her hand had been bandaged. She almost laughed out loud; it was a pretty clever idea.

Finishing up her own First Aid; Danni raided the cupboard for something to eat. She knew Sara and her husband had taken off about six months before but who takes food when they're leaving in a hurry? Danni found some old crackers that were heartily stale but still edible. She found an empty bottle and filled it with water and then went back upstairs to Jack. He was sleeping sitting up on the bed; the blanket tucked around his middle with his bare chest showing. Danni's bandage was holding. She went over and checked it. Sighing with relief she sat down on the couch chair she'd pulled up by the bed; it wasn't bleeding all that much. It probably still hurt like hell but he would probably be okay. She checked his pulse; it was still strong. He just needed rest. Danni curled up on the chair and was fast asleep in seconds.

**xxx**

When Jack woke up, the first thing he saw was Danni. She was asleep in a chair by his bed. He shifted slightly and pain seared through his arm; he could hardly move it. The Vancocin may ward of infection but it was a rubbish painkiller. He needed something stronger or else he couldn't do his job. For that he had to get to a hospital. He lifted himself of the headboard and shifted so his legs were hanging over the side of the bed. He tried to make as little noise as possible but the few moans of pain that escaped woke Danni quite quickly.

Danni hadn't realized she'd been asleep until she woke up to Jack trying to get out of bed. "Jack; no." Danni said, immediately trying to get him to stay down. "You need to rest."

"I can't rest." Jack told her. "I need to get in touch with CTU and see if they got Maliqe."

"You can hardly move." Danni told him.

"I need Lidocaine." Jack told her, tentatively touching his shoulder.

"Lidocaine?" Danni asked. "What's that?"

"A painkiller; it'll numb my shoulder." Jack told her.

"There are no hospitals around here." Danni told him.

"Medical centers?" Jack asked. "Doctor's office; anything like that?"

"Ah...I think there's one in town but most likely it's been raided." Danni explained. She really didn't want him moving.

"Then let's go." He got to his feet too fast and fell forwards a little.

Danni jumped up and grabbed him before he fell. "Take it slow; idiot." She muttered. "You were _shot_, y'know."

Danni found Jack some old clothes that had been left behind; a pair of jeans and a zip up jacket. Then she helped him down the stairs. She directed him towards the garage praying above all else that Sara's old station wagon was still there. She pulled open the door and was hit with a musty smell and a cloud of dust. That door had obviously not been opened in a _long_ time. Danni flicked on the light and breathed a sigh of relief; the maroon station wagon was sitting in the cramped space. Danni helped Jack into the passengers' seat, lifted up the garage door and climbed in the car. As much as she enjoyed hotwiring vehicles; the keys to this one hung from the rearview mirror. Danni started and reversed the car, stopping for a few moments to jump back out and shut the garage door, and headed back onto the road. This car wasn't nearly as fancy as her own or Jacks; it had no GPS or even air conditioning. It was a bone fide bomb.

Danni had only been in this area two or three times in her life; Sara wasn't fond of having people over; it meant she had to clean, so Danni had to go from memory to find her way to town.

"You know where you're goin?" Jack asked from beside her.

"We'll see." She muttered. The headlights were pretty dim so Danni almost had to strain her eyes to see the road. But eventually she came to a small collection of shops that she remembered. They had been built especially for the residents of Frankton Estate. And since the estate had been abandoned so had the shopping centre. It had also been spectacularly looted. This whole area had pretty much been forgotten by the rest of LA; it hadn't even been cleaned. There were smashed boxes all over the road as well as broken glass, beer bottles and cans, appliances that had been too heavy to steal and the burnt remains of three or four cars. Danni continued on until she saw the sign she was looking for, _Frankton Estate Medical Centre._ She pulled her onto the side of the road and got out. Jack exited with her.

"Whoa; whoa." Danni held up her hands. "Stay in the car; you shouldn't move."

"I'm fine." He muttered. He couldn't help but still be wary of Danni's motives. He was grateful that she had saved him but he also thought that perhaps the reason she did it was because she didn't want to have the guilt of killing him. So she had rescued him and taken care of his wound; but now he was okay, all he needed was Lidocaine and he'd be able to function almost as normal for at least the rest of the day. And they were at a medical centre; she could run if she wanted to; Jack wasn't going to die. And now that he was feeling stronger he had to be more vigilant. She had become the leader of the two of them; and second was a very dangerous place for Jack Bauer to be.

Thinking he was just as stubborn as always; Danni sighed and allowed Jack to accompany her into the medical centre. As she'd expected it was pretty wrecked. She assumed that once the news broke that Frankton Estate was abandoned; every drug addict in LA would have swarmed this place to get their hands on what was left. The small medical centre resembled a bomb site; scattered supplies and debris were all over the floor. As well as that; the electricity wasn't working. Danni had to work by moonlight. Seeing that Jack could now walk alright on his own, she began the search for Lidocaine.

Jack allowed Danni to search as he went to the front desk. It was covered in papers and rubbish but underneath it all he found a phone. And as luck would have it; it was the one thing in the centre that appeared to work. He dialed Chloe's number.

"O'Brien." A frazzled voice answered.

"Chloe; it's Jack." Jack replied.

"Jack, are you ok?" she asked immediately. "They found your car; they thought you were dead-"

"I'm fine." Jack told her. "Danni and I got out but Maliqe is still alive and he has the bomb."

"Jack, I'm glad you're alright but Buchannon is seeing red." Chloe told him. "He's pissed because you didn't get Maliqe and he has the chip."

Jack ignored her. "The chip is useless now; the bomb can't be activated without Danni's code." He told her.

"Jack?" Another voice came onto the line. It was Bill. "Get your ass back here now."

"Bill; I know I didn't-

"No more excuses Jack." Bill cut in. "You couldn't' do what you said you'd do; you're done. Get back here; we need you to question Rahjid Andreas, he's not talking."

"What about Danni?" Jack asked.

There was a pause at the end of the line before Bill answered. "We have a lock on your signal. You're in Frankton Estate, right?"

Jack sighed. "Yeah."

"The chopper is on its way there." Bill said. "And Jack? Don't run."

The line went dead. Jack held the phone to his ear listening to the dial tone for a few seconds before he hung up. He'd failed. He'd failed The President and CTU. He hated letting people down like this. But for some reason, since he'd done it for Danni...it didn't make him feel as bad. A moment later she came out of the back room empty handed.

"I didn't find anything." She said in a defeated voice. Jack nodded and averted her eyes. "What happened?"

**SSS**


	19. Chapter 19

**CHAPTER NINETEEN**

**Hour Ten**

**1:00-2:00**

Chloe handed a thick file of papers to Bill as he neared her desk. "That's everything I could get."

"Background intel on Al-Haeq?" Bill asked taking the file.

"Not really; moreso for some of its members. I found plenty of connections between three particular men and Danielle Carter." Chloe informed him. "Just correspondence really but more then enough to prove she knows them."

Bill nodded as he glanced over the file. "ETA on the chopper?"

"Two minutes." Chloe answered.

**xxx**

Danni and Jack spent the chopper ride back to CTU in silence. Mainly because the noise of the machine was deafening but also because Danni was now technically in CTU's custody. Jack was sitting in front of her beside the driver while she sat handcuffed in the back seat. The second the chopper had landed near the medical centre to pick up Jack and Danni, she had been cuffed and told to keep silent. She hadn't been able to talk to Jack and, as much as he'd tried to convince the agents who had come to get them that Danni wasn't the terrorist they thought she was, couldn't help her. Plus it seemed that the adrenaline and Vancocin had worn off and he was in immense pain again. So Danni just sat, hands confined, staring out the window into the early morning night sky. Her mind drifted to thoughts of her son; he was still at CTU. She wanted to see him; to try and explain to him what had happened today, but she didn't know if that would happen. If she was in as much trouble as these agents thought she was; she was going to jail for a long time.

As the chopper landed on top of the CTU helipad, Danni saw the group of people awaiting its arrival. When the engine cut off, Jack exited the machine and went over to Bill Buchannon who was waiting with a stern look on his face. As Danni was removed from the chopper she noticed them talking but, thanks to the noise from the helicopter, couldn't hear a word. She saw Bill motion to Jack's injured arm and then Jack shake his head but then she was walked quite briskly inside CTU and out of Jack's sight.

"I really think you need to be checked out, Jack." Bill said to Jack, eying the pain evident in Jack's eyes.

"I'm fine." Jack brushed it off. "You can't arrest Danni; she has information about Maliqe and Al-Haeq that can help us pin point where they are. She can help-"

"Jack, if you say 'she can help us' I'm gonna punch you." Bill cut him off. "You've been saying that for hours and in that time she hasn't helped us. In fact; we're worse off. And you almost died; I'd say that's a pretty big flaw in the plan."

"Ok, look." Jack leveled with him. "She is our _only_ source of information."

"Not true." Bill shook his head. "Rahjid Andreas is down in a holding cell."

Jack had to hold back a laugh. "He's not going to tell us anything; he lives and breathes for his cause. Danni doesn't."

"I'll handle her." Bill told Jack. "Go to medical; get yourself fixed up, then go interrogate Rahjid. _That's_ where you're needed right now." He walked away, pointing at one of the other agents as he left. "You; make sure Bauer gets to medical pronto."

**xxx**

Danni glanced around the stale, white interrogation room and had to restrain herself from the desperate need she had to roll her eyes; it was all just so predictable. Not that she'd been in that many interrogation rooms in her life; but this one was as by the book as they came. She rubbed her now uncuffed hands in her lap. She'd been brought straight to this room and told she was going to be talking with Bill Buchannon. She didn't know what he was going to say but since he was head of CTU and she was associated with a known terrorist group; she knew it wasn't going to be a breeze.

Sure enough, when Bill entered the room with a stern look on his face and a thick file in his hands, Danni knew he meant business. The way his suit hung from his shoulders told her that he'd been wearing it for quite a long time and would probably love nothing more then to dispose of the darn thing. She felt the same; she was still wearing Sara's old clothes. And, as much as Danni loved her friend, she had no backside whereas Danni had enough for both of them. The point being the jeans she had on were not as flattering or comfortable as they could've been.

Bill sat across from Danni on the other side of the table. He clasped his hands together and gave her a stern look. His stance and persona had all the makings of an oncoming lecture. Danni braced herself; but she could never have anticipated the words that came out of his mouth.

"I need a favour." Bill asked.

Danni could tell by the growl in the undertone of his voice that this was incredibly hard for him to say. "Sorry?" She asked, leaning forwards. Hell; if he needed her for something she wasn't going to let the opportunity to make him look like a fool slide. "A favour, you say?" Danni mocked a shocked response. "I'm honoured."

"Cut the crap." Bill silenced her. "My orders come directly from the President of these United States. Rest assured if it were up to me you'd be rotting in a cell by now."

"Charming; really." Danni said with a wry grin. She held out her hands to him. "What do you need?"

He opened the file in front of him. "Earlier today you were responsible for letting one of the most wanted men in the US escape with a nuclear device."

"I saved Jack's life." She reminded Bill. Her memory flashed back to when she'd seen Jack before he was taken to the medical centre of CTU. She wondered for a second how he was before remembering the stony face that glared at her from across the table.

"Maliqe Shiraz is nowhere to be found." Bill told her.

"What the hell would you have done if I had brought him back here?" Danni asked him accusingly. "You woulda locked me up anyway; no matter what I said. I had to make a call; save the man who actually wanted to help me or save a terrorist who had spent the last hour torturing me and then hand him over to a bunch of assholes who couldn't give a crap about where I ended up." She paused. "I made the right call."

"Having said that, you are our only link to Maliqe, Al Haeq and that bomb." Bill said regretfully.

"So what do you want?" Danni asked with a shrug.

"We want you to work for us." Bill said blatantly.

"What?" Danni knew she looked confused; but she couldn't help it.

"You created the software imprinted on the bomb, you're the only one who can help us find it and neutralize it." Bill told her. "We want you to work with our agents to track it down."

Danni scoffed. "Why the hell would I do that?" She asked with raised eyebrows.

Bill sighed. "If you don't help us...you'll never see your son again."

The ease at which Bill said this made Danni nervous. She had only discovered CTU the day before but from what she'd learned; they were a ruthless organization. They would do whatever it took to get what they wanted; including keeping her son from her. She hadn't seen Billy since she'd traded herself for him the night before and she was desperate for him to remain safe. CTU were a branch that you needed on your side; because if they were an enemy the repercussions were unbearable.

"I wanna see my son." Danni said directly into Bill's eyes.

Bill shook his head. "Out of the question."

"Let me see my son and I'll do whatever you want." Danni told him. It was the truth; to keep Billy safe she'd willingly give up her own freedom.

Bill thought for a moment. Then he nodded once. "Alright." He agreed.

"And I want my record wiped." Danni added.

"You've been claiming your innocence all day." Bill reminded her with a smirk. "Now you're suddenly worried about your criminal record?"

"Before today I didn't have one." Danni told him knowingly. "Now I've got these charges of terrorist acts against the states and evading arrests; charges _you know_ are totally unfounded. Wipe my record, give me my son and I'll do anything you want." Danni said truthfully.

Bill placed his mouth in a firm line. "I can get a sworn letter from the President expunging all your outstanding charges." He agreed. "And I'll let you have your son."

"Good." Danni nodded leaning back in her chair. "Then I think we can work out a deal."

**xxx**

Ten minutes later; Danni had her written letter from President Palmer to be signed on her completion of her task with CTU; a task she still was unsure of. But as she sat back in the room with Bill; she knew it was going to be dangerous. And she assumed it would most likely threaten her life in such a way that her pardon from the President would be rendered useless.

"So…?" Danni asked Bill when he didn't say anything. "What do you need me to do?"

"We need you to go undercover." Bill told her. He opened his file again and pulled out a few video camera shots of three men. "These men are member of Al Haeq, you know them, am I right?"

Danni glanced over the photos; she did know all the men. They were all mindless drones who followed Maliqe's every word. But in the past two years or so; Maliqe had palmed them off onto his right hand man, Rahjid; whom they followed just as blindly. "Yes, I know them." She told Bill.

"From what our Intel has told us, Rahjid Andreas has been their leader for the last couple of years." Bill continued. "But since we now have Rahjid in our custody; we need you to return to these men and tell them that you were sent by Maliqe to lead them to the bomb."

Danni had to process the idiocy of this idea for a moment. "Ok...first of all, what you just said is crazy." Danni told Bill. "These men are useless; sure, but they're not complete idiots. They know that both Maliqe and Rahjid never trusted me; they'll never believe that I was sent there."

"We have Rahjid in a holding cell on one of our basement levels." Bill continued calmly. "After much…_consideration_, he has agreed to place a phone call to these men explaining that they are to follow your orders."

Danni scoffed again and shook her head. "And what is the point of all this?" She asked, raising one eyebrow.

"We believe these men know the location of the bomb. You order them to take you there and we'll follow." Bill told her.

"What about Maliqe?" Danni asked.

"As of ten minutes ago; the President has ruled finding this bomb CTU's number one priority." Bill said seriously. "That bomb is set to go off at President Palmer's speech this morning; we will not let that happen."

Danni thought for a few moments. She knew enough about working with Rahjid and Maliqe to know how to handle a couple of goons; but she doubted her confidence in stringing them along for a lengthy period of time. Even so; it was her only way to freedom with her son. Danni sighed. "Alright." She agreed.

"Good." Bill nodded. Then he started gathering up his papers. "We'll have our people set you up with tracking and communication devices; you'll leave within the hour."

"I want to see my son." Danni reminded him. Bill looked skeptical. "If I die doing this for you I need to see him." She added quickly.

Bill looked at her and sighed. "Very well. I'll have someone take you to him."

"Thank you." Danni told him sincerely. As Bill started to leave; Danni had another thought. "What about Jack?" She asked. "Is he taking the lead?" She assumed Jack would be the one talking in her earpiece; guiding her through bluffing as a terrorist leader.

"No." Bill answered.

His answer took Danni by surprise. "What?"

"Jack isn't to know you're going undercover." Bill turned back to her and crossed his arms. "As good an agent as he is; he tends to do whatever the hell he wants when he thinks its right. I feel, and the President agrees, that if he were to know that you were going undercover; he would try and rescue you. And that could potentially expose our whole operation." Bill turned back towards the door.

"Wait." Danni got to her feet. "What am I supposed to tell him?"

Bill turned back once more. "Tell him the truth. That you made a deal; that you're working for us. But when the two of you arrive at the location, he needs to think that you've been lying; that you've been working for Maliqe the whole time. When you go back to these men he's not going to know that we sent you. He's going to think you were playing him from minute one. Should he think any different and I am certain he will try to save you. You need to know that should something go wrong…CTU won't come back for you."

Danni had assumed this. "I understand that." She was having a harder time with the 'you can't tell Jack' aspect of the deal. She didn't like that CTU seemed to be making assumptions about their relationship. She and Jack hadn't seen each other in twenty five years before now, and for most of today they'd been extremely wary of each other. Yes; Jack had come back for her once before. But she'd also come back for him when the car was sinking in the dam. They were even. It was as though CTU assumed there were unresolved issues and feelings between the two of them. The thing that worried Danni was that there was a lot of truth in that assumption and she wasn't sure how to deal with it.


	20. Chapter 20

**CHAPTER TWENTY**

**Hour Ten Continued**

**2:00-3:00**

Jack barely flinched as Dr. Anderson injected him with a shot of Lidocaine. After three hours of unbearable agony thanks to his gunshot wound; the numbness that was spreading over his right shoulder was more then welcome. Plus it allowed Jack to continue on basically as normal. The doctor still wanted to run tests and check him over properly; but Jack didn't have the time or patience to wait for that.

"You got lucky here, Agent Bauer." Dr. Anderson said as he inspected Jack's bullet wound. "The shot didn't hit any major arteries or organs; you're looking at a complete recovery."

"Great." Jack muttered under his breath. His mind was else ware; mostly wondering where Danni had been taken after they'd been separated. He imagined it wasn't somewhere pleasant.

"Did you stitch this yourself?" Dr. Anderson asked Jack.

"No." Jack told him. "Why?"

The doctor shrugged. "The stitching is quite professional; I just assumed it was your own."

"No; that's my handiwork." Danni's voice arose from the doorway.

Jack looked up and saw her; confused slightly as to why she wasn't in handcuffs nor did she have an armed escort.

"You did well." The doctor nodded at the stitching approvingly. "You're quick work saved his life."

Danni merely smiled nervously; she didn't like when people she just met were so nice to her. It made her uncomfortable.

"Doc; give us a minute?" Jack asked Dr. Anderson.

"Sure; I'll send these to the lab." He nodded at Jack's blood sample. It had to be tested for procedural reasons to make sure Jack hadn't sustained a blood infection of some kind. The doctor gathered his things and left the room.

Danni hung around by the door; not sure she wanted to move any closer to Jack. He was sitting on the end of a movable hospital bed wearing only his boots and jeans. His bullet wound was still stitched but no longer bandaged. "Doesn't look as bad as I thought it would." Danni said; nodding at the site of a future scar.

"I'll live." Jack replied. "What happened with Bill?"

Danni paused, thinking carefully about how to say what she wanted to say. "We made a deal." She told Jack finally. "I help you guys find the bomb and he'll wipe my criminal record. I can take Billy and get the hell outta here."

"What kind of deal?" Jack asked; knowing full well the form of contract Bill Buchannon would dish out.

"We didn't work out details just yet." Danni lied. Jack didn't need to know what Danni had been hired to do; if he did then it wouldn't go as planned. "But it'll be okay."

She was lying; Jack could tell. She spoke to her feet; not wanting to look him in the eye. She was also stubborn as hell; she wouldn't tell him anything. And right now, as Jack was full of painkillers, Danni had the upper hand. He decided to just skate past it. "Have you seen Billy yet?"

Danni shook her head. "He's sleeping; I don't want to wake him yet. But I'll see him before we leave."

"Leave?"

"Ah, yeah." She looked at her feet again. "Buchannon said there was a, ah, lead or something…wants us to go…check it out."

Jack didn't know if she couldn't lie because it was him or if she'd just lost the will to try; but either way; Jack knew whatever was going on had something to do with the conversation Danni and Bill had had. And he also knew that there probably wasn't much he could do to get that information. "Alright, I have to get intel from—argh!" Jack slid off the table and lost his footing for a second, causing his weight to fall completely onto his wounded arm. The painkillers were working; but they hadn't taken full effect yet. So a hot, stinging pain shot through Jack's arm.

Danni was at his side immediately. "Oh, if you ripped those stitches already the Doc is gonna kill you." She said as she checked Jack's wound. It didn't appear to be any worse. But then suddenly Danni became very aware of the fact that she was touching Jack's bare chest. And also, that he was letting her do it. "Umm, ok." Danni retracted her hands and stuffed them safely into her jeans pockets. "So; you're fine." She added nervously.

Thankfully Jack didn't have to think of a reply because Bill Buchannon entered the room at that moment. "Jack; how're you feeling?" he asked as he entered.

"Fine." Jack said as he grabbed the clean shirt the doctor had given him and pulled it on.

"Good. Rahjid Andreas is in the interrogation room waiting for you. See Chloe before you go in there; she has some intel for you." Bill told Jack.

"Sir, I think that-" Jack began.

"Now; Jack." Bill told him with astute finality in his voice.

"Fine." Jack replied. Then he head out the door; not wanting to look back at Danni. But before he'd even got out the door; he heard Bill's frustrated voice barking at her.

"What did you tell him?" Bill asked.

Jack hung back so he was close enough to hear the conversation without being seen.

"I froze up." Danni said in an unapologetic tone.

"Lady; don't forget who you're dealing with." Bill spat back at her. "You _will_ do what you signed on for; Danielle."

"Course I will." Danni answered. "Never said I wouldn't. But I'm telling you; Jack's gonna catch on. He's no idiot."

"Let me worry about Jack." Bill told her. "You worry about what you've got to do."

Jack sensed the conversation was coming to an end so he cleared out of their as fast as he could with an injured arm. But when he didn't hear Bill's scolding voice behind him he knew he was safe. What exactly had he overheard? Jack wasn't sure. He knew that Bill was keeping this 'plan' from him for a reason; probably because he thought Jack would just save Danni. This offended Jack on many levels; never would he put Danni in front of his duty. Never; not after what had happened today. _Besides her saving my life, I mean_. Jack added silently to himself.

Chloe met Jack on his way to the interrogation room. She told him that what Bill wanted him to get out of Rahjid was information on three of his men. All three of these men had also had contact with Danni in the past few years. It was Jack's job to make him talk; get Rahjid to divulge where these three men were.

Jack entered the interrogation room to see Rahjid sitting at the table looking pretty proud of himself. His clothes were torn and sweat-soaked, his face was tired and worn, but he still wore an arrogant expression and looked almost peaceful. Jack slammed the door behind him and stood over Rahjid.

"Remember me?" Jack asked icily.

Rahjid glanced up at Jack and then back at the spot on the wall he'd been staring at. "Yes. Agent Bauer. The man who shot me yesterday evening. How could I forget you?"

Jack slammed down three pictures that Chloe had given him of the three men who supposedly worked for Rahjid. "These men; your men; where are they?"

Rahjid ignored Jack's question. "And how is Danielle?"

"Where are they?" Jack bent down so he was at eye level with the man.

"Why don't you ask her? She knows them." Rahjid pushed the photos away with his cuffed hands.

"I'm asking you." Jack sneered back.

Rahjid sighed. "Agent Bauer; do you really expect me to tell you anything?"

Jack elbowed Rahjid in the jaw. "Yeah; I do." He said with a smirk

This back and forth went on for almost a half-hour before a beaten, bleeding and bruised Rahjid showed signs of cracking. Even though he wasn't at his best, Jack knew he would break him.

"You are gonna do what I asked." Jack said patronizingly to Rahjid. "You _are_ gonna call your men. You _are_ gonna tell them that Danni is coming to lead them. You _are_ gonna make them believe what I tell you; do you understand me?"

Rahjid was trying to catch his breath. He looked up at Jack with two swollen eyes and at least seven bleeding cuts on his face. He was defeated. He'd been beaten.

Jack took out his cell phone and held it out to Rahjid. "Make the call."

Rahjid looked up at Jack and allowed a creepy smile to spread across his pained face. "She got to you; didn't she?"

"Make the call." Jack said more forcefully.

"She has a..._quality_; doesn't she?" Rahjid continued. "Makes you want to help her...it won't last, Agent Bauer. She's as guilty as I am."

"Make the goddam call." Jack was quickly loosing patience. He didn't want to be told anymore about how 'evil' Danni was.

"She cares for no one." Rahjid told him. "Don't fool yourself into thinking she's changed...if you'd seen the things I've seen her do…the things she's capable of...you'd have her dead before you could blink twice."

Jack winced, firmly clenching his jaw.

Rahjid smiled warmly. "I'll make that call now."

**xxx**

When Danni was taken in to see her son; she didn't really know what to expect. For some reason she thought he'd look different; older maybe. But no; there he was; her baby boy just sleeping the way he always did. On his side, curled into a ball with his green teddy bear, aptly named Teddy, cuddled in his arms. Jill, the woman who had been watching him, left the room as Danni entered. Walking over towards the couch her son was sleeping on; Danni deliberated whether to wake him or not. He'd had a hell of a day. She didn't know how long Maliqe had held him for but it was at least a couple of days. He didn't know that his father had died, he didn't know that his mother might not come back. Danni then realized that she did have to wake him. If she died on this mission she needed him to hear her voice at least one last time. Gently shaking her shoulder, Danni woke up her son. "Billy? Its mummy." She said quietly as he opened his eyes.

"Mama!" He squirmed out of bed and into her lap; tossing his arms around her neck as he did so.

"Hey, baby." Danni mumbled into his ear as she stroked his soft, blonde hair. "How you doin'?"

"I missed you." He said leaning his head against her shoulder.

"I misses you, too." Danni replied; feeling tears in her eyes.

"We go home?" he asked hopefully.

"Soon, baby." Danni promised. "I've got some stuff that I have to finish. Grandma's coming to pick you up, though.

Billy's arms gripped his mother's shirt. "No; you come, too."

Danni moved her son in her lap so that she was looking into his beautiful eyes. "I can't just yet, baby. But I'll come get you as soon as I can, ok?"

Her son didn't answer, he was just silent for a moment. "Is Daddy coming, too?"

Danni felt a large lump form in her throat. She had been dreading this conversation for hours but she knew she had to be the one to tell Billy the truth. "No, baby. Daddy…Daddy's not coming home."

Concern flashed across Billy's face. "Why not?"

Biting her lip to hold back tears, Danni started rocking Billy in her arms. "Well…" she started. It was not a good sign that her voice immediately cracked.

"Did the bad men hurt him?" Billy asked.

Now Danni was the one to be concerned. That and confused. "The bad men?"

"The men that took me and Daddy." Billy explained. "Daddy said they were bad."

Now Danni understood, he was talking about the men who had kidnapped him. As she looked into her son's face she got the distinct impression that Billy already knew his father was dead. "Yeah...the bad men...they, ah…" Danni couldn't stop the tears. They spilled over her tired eyes and down her cheeks. She felt Billy's small hand against her face.

"Don't cry, mama." He said softly. "It's ok. I miss Daddy, too."

In what bizarre world did the child of three years of age comfort his mother? Danni had no idea but for some reason Billy did. _He_ was making it easier for _her_. She clutched him to her chest and sobbed into his small body wondering how the hell a three-year-old could be so comforting to her.


	21. Chapter 21

**CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE**

**Hour Eleven**

**3:00-4:00**

Jack seized Danni's arm as the two of them headed for his SUV. They were on their way to the marina; the same place where Danni had traded herself for her son. This was the place where Rahjid's three men, Lynus, Ilka and Serge, were waiting for their next orders. And, as far as they knew, these orders were to follow Danni's lead.

"Do whatever you have to do." Jack told Danni as they neared his car. "They need to believe that you've been sent by Rahjid."

"Yeah, I know Jack. I heard you the first million times." Danni retorted, wrenching her hand out of his grip. Since Jack had returned from interrogating Rahjid he'd been treating her differently. She wondered what Rahjid had said to make Jack look at her so...suspiciously. It made her nervous. Moreso then she had been all day around Jack. Although, to be fair, since she'd had to say goodbye to Billy and left him crying for her to stay; she wasn't exactly in a pleasant mood either.

"You can't mess this up." Jack scolded her. "For all we know these men are _in possession_ of the bomb."

"Jack; I know how this is gonna go down." Danni said with a glare. If he was going to be suspicious of her; she was going to give as good as she got. "I'm gonna go in there barking out orders and they aren't gonna follow. I said it to Bill and now I'm saying it to you 'this is the stupidest plan I've ever heard'."

Jack winced. "Get in the car." He ordered.

Begrudgingly, Danni obliged and climbed into the passengers' seat. Apparently; what little moment they'd shared earlier in the medical room was long forgotten. Now Jack was loaded with Lidocaine and back in work mode. He didn't really even acknowledge her as they drove along and, for some reason, this really annoyed her. Danni assumed that they had passed this childish rudeness around the time she had saved his life. Apparently she was wrong. When Jack did finally speak to her; it was work related. Of course.

"Put this in your ear." He handed her a flesh coloured ear piece. "You won't be able to communicate with me but I'll be able to give you orders."

"Great." Danni muttered sarcastically as she put the earpiece in place.

"Do you have enough ammo?" Jack asked.

"Yeah." Danni muttered as she stared out the window into the early morning sky.

Jack felt the shift in their relationship as well. He wasn't exactly sure when it had happened. Somewhere in the middle of his conversation with Rahjid, Jack had realized the obvious; Danni wasn't who she used to be. She wasn't his girlfriend; he didn't have any idea who she was now. All he knew was fact. And fact told him she had aligned herself with terrorists. That made her his enemy. And whatever had or hadn't happened between them needed to be forgotten. Yes, she'd saved his life. But she'd also contributed in the creation of a nuclear device set to destroy most of LA later that morning. Jack needed to put aside whatever he felt and get on with his job.

Pulling up his SUV to the marina, Jack looked over at Danni for the first time since they had gotten into the car. "I don't need to tell you how important this is." Jack said seriously.

Danni watched him for a second. There he was; Agent Bauer. Jack was gone. There was no connection between them anymore; she had Rahjid to thank for that. "Yeah." Danni muttered as she unhooked her seat belt and exited the car. She headed down to the same warehouse she'd been in the night before when she'd traded herself for Billy; warehouse seven. She heard Jack's SUV pull away but she didn't even think to look back. She was on her own now.

When she reached the door to warehouse seven, she knocked three times and was soon greeted by a man she knew as Ilka. She had to adopt a leader's persona; she had to tell herself she owned these men. They needed to know she was boss. So rather then wait to be let in she walked straight past Ilka and into the warehouse. It had been cleared out since she'd last been inside.

"Where are the others?" She asked Ilka expectantly.

"On their way." Ilka replied. He was a young middle eastern man with a shaved head, slight beard and permanent sneer.

"I take it Rahjid called you." Danni said as strongly as she could.

"Yes." Ilka replied. "With orders that we are to obey you."

"Good." Danni nodded once. Then she noticed a large, silver case sitting on a crate off to the side of the room. "What's that?" she nodded towards the case.

"The bomb." Ilka replied immediately without even turning to look at the case.

Danni knew it wasn't the same bomb as the one she'd programmed. That one was much larger. "It's not the nuclear bomb." She half said half asked Ilka.

"No; it's merely an explosive device." Ilka explained. "Rahjid had us prepare it in the wake of today's attack; to throw off the scent, as he called it."

Danni nodded. She was kind of worried that she understood what Ilka was talking about. Maliqe and Rahjid would have worked out this plan months ago. If two attacks occurred on the same day it was common logic that they were connected. But if the two bombs were different in size, make, ingredients, etc; the likelihood they are connected lessens. It could be the work of a copycat. It was a smart move from the enemy's perspective.

**xxx**

_I should have gone with her,_ Jack thought to himself as he headed out of the marina. _ I should have prepared her more. _He hadn't even pulled out of the parking lot when he was cut off by another vehicle. It came out of nowhere and cut into his path with such speed and force Jack knew that they had been waiting for him. The car smashed into the front of Jack's SUV causing the hood to crumple. Jack retrieved his gun and jumped out of his car but the two men in the other vehicle already had their weapons aimed at him. Jack had no choice. He dropped his gun and put his hands over his head.

**xxx**

Ilka didn't take his suspicious eyes of Danni the entire time they waited for Lynus and Serge. She scoped out the warehouse; looking for possible exits should she need to

make a quick getaway. She was starting to wonder why she hadn't heard from Jack. She had a thought that maybe her earpiece was busted but with the way Ilka was staring at her; she didn't dare remove it.

A loud screeching noise alerted both Danni and Ilka as two Middle Eastern men entered the warehouse. Danni recognized them as Serge and Lynus. Serge was the oldest of the group; in his mid forties with graying black hair and a well maintained beard. Lynus was in his thirties with long, black hair pulled back into a ponytail. They both didn't seem surprised to see Danni there.

"Where have you been?" Danni asked them.

"Busy." Serge spat at her.

Serge had never liked her, Danni knew that. But the way he looked at Ilka made her think they had their own ideas for what was going to happen in this warehouse. She had to stay on target; finding Maliqe and the nuclear bomb.

"I need to contact Maliqe." She said to the three men.

"We don't contact Maliqe." Serge told her. "Only Rahjid does. Surely you knew that."

"Don't take that tone with me, Serge." Danni told him as firm as she could.

"Perhaps you don't know _how_ to contact Maliqe." Lynus offered with a smirk.

"Ahh, I see." Danni said with a smile. "You're mocking me." She removed her gun from her waistband and let it hang loosely in her hands. "That's funny."

"We will not take orders from you until we know whose side you are on." Ilka said to her.

"Right." Danni sighed. "And how do you want me to show you that?"

"Well, that's simple." Ilka motioned to Serge who disappeared out the back room.

Danni heard him returning before she actually saw him. He was dragging something with him. When Serge returned Danni had to bite her lip so she wouldn't gasp; Jack was dangling limply in Serge's arms. Danni could do nothing but watch as Lynus helped Serge tie an unconscious Jack onto a chair.

"You want to show us you're on our side?" Ilka spoke up.

Danni locked eyes with him.

Ilka smirked. "Shoot your friend."


	22. Chapter 22

**CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO**

**Hour Eleven**

**3:00-4:00**

Chloe was searching every satellite in the vicinity of the marina but she couldn't find Jack anywhere. The last contact he'd had with CTU was to say that he'd dropped Danni off at the warehouse. He was supposed to call back when he was in position so he could give her CTU's orders through her earpiece; he hadn't called back. 

Looking up towards Bill's office, Chloe saw him pacing. He had sent three teams of agents after Jack and Danni at five minute interludes soon after they left. The leading convey were fifteen minutes from the marina so time was of the essence. Chloe went back to her computer and pulled up Jack's phone records; hoping to track down his signal. Although all that would do is give her his location at the time he made his last call and they knew he would be at the marina. For all they knew he had been knocked out, thrown in a car and driven to an airport. Chloe shook her head; dismissing those thoughts. He was Jack. He'd be fine; he always was. 

**xxx**

Danni's hand tightened its grip on her gun. She didn't want to look at Jack; she didn't want to let on to Ilka that she was worried for him. She was their leader; she had to play along. She just didn't know how far she would have to go.

"Shooting him will earn your trust?" She scoffed. "That sounds about right."

"We saw him drive you here." Lynus spoke up. 

"He's nobody." Danni countered. 

"Then shoot him." Serge said a little too easily. 

Danni rearranged her grip on her gun and walked towards Jack. Her gun was loaded…maybe there was a way she could trick them into thinking she shot him. The idiocy of this idea made Danni want to kick herself. Her legs felt numb as she neared Jack. His words echoed in her mind. "_Do whatever you have to do."_ Is this what he meant? She stood directly in front of Jack and raised her weapon to his temple and swallowed hard; thinking about what she had to do. 

"I'm sorry." She muttered. Then she raised her gun and shot Serge directly in the chest; she aimed her weapon at Ilka as he went for his gun. "Don't move!" 

"What did you just do?" Lynus asked, eyes darting from Danni to Serge's dead body. 

"I run you guys." Danni told them. "_You_ don't tell _me_ what to do; _I _tell _you_ what to do! I shoot who I wanna shoot. Serge's been a pain in my ass from day one." She nodded towards the bomb in the silver case behind Ilka. "The bomb; how does it work?"

"It's on a thirty second timer." Ilka knew when he was beaten. If Danni was his knew leader; the only way he was going to live was to do as she asked. "Once it armed; you can't stop it from detonating. Unarmed; it's virtually indestructible."

Suddenly, Jack awoke making Ilka, Lynus and Danni all jump. Instinctively Lynus took out his gun and aimed it at Jack. To keep up appearances, Danni aimed her weapon at Jack as well. His wide eyes darted around from Danni to Ilka to Lynus to Serge's dead body. 

Jack didn't know what to say. He was bound to a chair, Danni had a gun on him and he was surrounded by men he knew were terrorists. Add to that the pain in his head from being knocked out and he was in a very discombobulated state. He looked up at Danni. She was sneering at him. Was she faking it? Was this part of the plan? Or was this real? Had she really gone back to their side? Jack would never have thought that she had actually gone back except that he was now a prisoner. That hadn't been part of the plan. What if this had been _her_ plan from the beginning? 

"We have to go." Ilka suddenly spoke up.

"Why?" Danni asked him. 

"Maliqe wants us at the apartment by six." Ilka told her. 

"The apartment?" Danni was shocked that she actually knew what they were talking about. "The one in Dixon Avenue?" 

Ilka nodded. Then he gestured at Jack. "What should we do with him?"

"Go get the car; I'll deal with him." Danni said to Ilka. 

He looked uncertain but nodded once and motioned to Lynus to follow him. As the two of them headed for the door Danni shot them both in the back. It was cowardly but necessary. She had a location. She'd found Maliqe. She'd done her job for CTU; now it was time for her to leave. But then why did she feel so guilty? She looked at all three bodies, their blood pooling in sickly puddles around their wounds. _I did that_, she said to herself. Suddenly she wanted to puke.

Jack's ears were still ringing after Danni fired her gun. He turned to see the two dead bodies on the ground along with Serge's. "Danni?"

"Oh god." Danni was sick to her stomach. She'd just killed three men in cold blood and for some reason this hit her harder then ever before. She back away from the bodies; her gun falling limp in her grasp. She held a hand out; warding off an invisible predator. 

"Danni; what's wrong?" Jack could only see half of her face but it became clearer as she backed further away from the bodies and back in front of Jack. She looked horrified. "Danni; untie me." She looked at him as thought she'd just realized he was in the room with her. She stared at him for a moment before shaking her head. "Danni." Jack said warningly. Something had broken inside her; she wasn't herself.

_What have I done?_ Danni asked herself. _Why am I the way that I am? What is it in me that makes me do these things so easily? _As she looked at Jack, she only saw his betrayal. She grew angry towards him. And his demands to be untied only angered her more. 

"Danni; untie me!" Jack yelled. 

"Shut up!" She screamed back. She held her hand to her head and thought for a moment. She felt so boxed in right then; so captured. "I gotta get outta here." She muttered. Then she turned for the door.

"You're just gonna leave me here?" Jack's irritated voice called after her. 

Danni stopped in her tracks. _Did he really just say that?_ She turned back to him; angry, fierce tears burning her eyes. "That is really rich coming from you." She replied bitterly.

"What?" Jack asked confusedly. 

Turning her body back around to face Jack, Danni got a sudden rush of courage to tell him how he really made her feel. "Y'know, its really ironic, isn't it? That twenty-five years after _you_ abandoned _me_; we're now in the same situation all over again? Only this time; it's _me_ whose gonna be leaving _you_."

Jack furrowed his brow. "I didn't abandon you."

"You joined the damn army, Jack!" Danni yelled. 

Now Jack remembered. He _had_ abandoned her. Twenty-five years ago he had abandoned her. And now, in this warehouse, he was going to pay for it. 

"You were stationed in a secluded area for _four_ years. For _four years_ I wasn't allowed to contact you; I wasn't allowed to know where you were and you know why? Cos they said it would be a security breach." She laughed. "Your girlfriend wasn't allowed to know where you were because apparently they thought I'd go blabbing all over the country."

"Danni-"

"Oh, but it didn't stop there." She continued. "No; then you came home. You came home! And you know how I heard about that? I read it in the paper…in a wedding announcement." She laughed. "Wedding announcement! You were getting married. The first thing I'd heard in four years about you was "_Jack Bauer marries the love of his life in a private family ceremony."_

"I'm-"

"And then she died. Terri died and I…I felt guilty. Can you believe that? _I_ felt guilty and I didn't even do anything!" She was crying now but she'd opened a gate that had been sealed for a quarter of a decade. There was no stopping her now. "And then _you_ died!" she laughed through her tears. "You died and…and I went to that memorial thinking…what the hell did I do? I've spent so long hating him for what he did to me and now he's dead. You died without me ever getting to tell you how I felt. How…how…_pissed _I am!"

Jack didn't know what to say. 

"But how can you say that about a dead guy? You can't." Her gun fell limp in her hands as she walked back and forth in front of Jack. "And now you're here. You're sitting right here…and all I can think about is how much I wanted this; to see you again…but now it doesn't matter because we're gonna die right here."

Jack watched as she sank down cross legged only a few feet in front of him, resting the handle of her gun against her temple. He thought maybe everything that had happened today accompanied with a lack of sleep was the reason for her behaviour; she was having a breakdown right before his eyes and Jack had no clue how to help her. She was silent for almost two full minutes.

"You've tried to kill me, like…six times today." She said, her eyes focused on a hole in the floorboard beneath Jack's chair. "And that…that doesn't…_mean_ anything." She looked up and caught Jack's eye. "It should but it doesn't. I…it's like I don't care." She shrugged. 

"I'm not going to hurt you." Jack told her honestly. 

Danni smiled ever so slightly; almost a smile of pity. "And we're back to irony." She got up on her knees and knelt towards Jack. "Jack, we both know what would happen if I was tied to that chair instead of you. You'd leave me and go on with your mission. I get that, y'know…" She covered her mouth with her hands. Her useless ramblings weren't even making sense to her but for some reason she just had to keep talking; no matter what she said. She walked ahead on her knees until she could lean her elbows on Jack's knees. She wasn't being seductive; she was just aching for human contact. She rested her hands on Jack's lower thighs and looked up at him. "Why am I like this?" She asked. "Why am I so messed up?" her eyes drifted to the open window to her right. 

"Because of me." Jack muttered; the realization hitting him the moment he spoke the words. 

Danni snapped her eyes back to Jack's. 

"It's my fault." Jack said into Danni's eyes. "I did this to you."

Danni furrowed her brow. "Are you insane? Are you that _arrogant_ that you think you've had some kinda hold over me for all this time?" she shook her head. "I did this." She didn't realize how close she was to Jack's mouth until she felt his breath on her face. She turned her head away but inadvertently grazed his jaw. Neither of them moved. Danni tilted her head up slightly so her head nestled into the crook of Jack's neck. She felt the pressure as he leant against her as well. Danni lifted her head up and looked into Jack's eyes. "I don't know what the right thing to do is anymore."

Jack didn't know what to say. He wanted to think that if he wasn't tied up that he'd have hugged her or stroked her hair or something. But he wasn't sure that he would have. She was right there in front of him; her eyes red and glistening with tears. For some reason she looked absolutely beautiful. So Jack did the only thing that he could do; he kissed her. 

At first Danni was shocked; was Jack kissing her? _Why_ was Jack kissing her? She pulled away and looked and him with a clearly puzzled expression. "What…" she trailed off; not sure how to say what she wanted to say. Jack didn't look guilty. He didn't look pitiful. He just looked concerned. Danni felt her bottom lip tremble but she didn't let that stop her as she kissed Jack full on the mouth. Rising off her knees she wrapped one arm around his neck and kissed him deeply. 

They both heard the loud click at the same time. Turning their heads, both Jack and Danni saw a bleeding Ilka pressing a button on the silver case that contained the bomb. From where she was Danni could see the little screen with the red numbers 00:00:30 blinking and then start counting down. Ilka collapsed into a pool of his own blood; switching on the bomb apparently having been his last wish. 

"Dammit; we gotta get outta here!" Danni yelled as she climbed off Jack; the immediate fear shocking her back into reality. 

"In my back pocket there's a knife." Jack instructed Danni. 

Danni found the knife and started cutting away the ropes from Jack's wrists. She tried not to look at the timer but she could hear it beeping down. She freed Jack's hands and then they both untied his legs. 

Jack glanced over at the timer. It read 00:00:13. "Come on; we gotta move!" He seized Danni's hand and pulled her out the back door of the warehouse. They paused as Jack looked both way's deciding which way was the best option. On his left was a row of large warehouses and eventually led to the main road. On his left; the harbor. "Come on!" 

Jack yanked Danni to the left and they both ran as fast as they could. Jack didn't know what was in the bomb but it wasn't going to be a small blast. The only place to hide was underwater. Jack directed Danni down a jetty. In his head, Jack was counting down the final five seconds. 

_Five. _They were halfway along the jetty.

_Four._ The water was only a foot away.

_Three. _Jack tightened his grip on Danni's hand and felt her squeeze back.

_Two. _They both jumped off the jetty. 

_One. _


	23. Chapter 23

**CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE**

**Hour Twelve**

**4:00-5:00**

Jack and Danni were both underwater but even so, Jack felt the earth shattering rumble of the explosion. He felt as though his whole body was vibrating and, in the commotion, he lost his grip on Danni. The water was as black as night and as Jack neared the surface, he could feel the heat from the explosion. His head broke through and he gasped for air.

"Danni?!" he screamed. Pieces of the warehouse were falling from the sky all around him. The explosion had taken out many of the surrounding warehouses and had started a blazing fire that was already moving onto another row of buildings. The safest place to be was in the harbor. Jack treaded water and looked around him. "Danni?!" he couldn't see her but there were bits of debris blocking his view. She couldn't have gone far. "Danni?!" He dove back underwater, hoping that the fire and the moon would join to gather and emit enough light so Jack could see the entire underwater world.

For a moment, the clouds moved away from, the moon and Jack saw a ripple of Danni's jacket in the moonlight. He broke the surface to get one more deep breath of air and then dove down again. The closer he got; the more Jack knew it was Danni. He grasped her by her underarms and steered her upwards; his lungs aching for air. He broke the surface once more with Danni, unconscious, under one arm. He could see, even in the dim light, her lips were turning blue. She wasn't breathing. Jack held her tightly under his injured arm and used his stronger one to swim towards the shore.

Jack carried Danni up out of the water and laid her on the ground besides the harbor. "Danni?" he opened her mouth and held his ear to her lips; no air came out. Kneeling beside her; he started CPR. One compression, two compressions, three compressions, four compressions, five compressions. Then he blew air into her mouth and started compressions again. When Jack started his tenth round of compressions; he stopped counting. She wasn't responding. He could hear sirens coming; the police, ambulances, CTU; they'd all be here soon. But that thought was merely a quick flash through Jack's mind. His eyes were on Danni; her sullen face, her bluish skin...one compression, two compressions...

"Come on; Danni." Jack muttered. "Come _on!_" he breathed into her once more. "Breathe; dammit! COME ON!!" He pumped her chest as hard as he could when suddenly Danni vomited water all over her chest. "That's it." Jack lifted up her head by the back of her neck as she drew in short, ragged breaths; coughing every couple of seconds. "You're okay." He told her, lifting her into his lap so she was off the ground. "You're okay." A series of flashing lights caught Jack's eye. He looked up just as an ambulance followed by a CTU van pulled up by the flaming warehouses.

"Agent Bauer?" called a CTU soldier who was running towards them.

"Yeah?" Jack looked up and recognized Agent Jason Smith, a young but very capable member of CTU. "Get the paramedics down here."

"Yes sir." Agent Smith answered; reaching for his radio.

"No; I'm ok." Danni told Jack in a raspy voice. Her throat was burning; she wasn't sure how much water she'd swallowed but she could still taste it in her mouth.

"Stay still." Jack told her. She tried to sit up but he tightened his grip around her back and kept her still.



"I'm ok, Jack." Danni told him.

"Take it easy." Jack told her concernedly as two paramedics ran down the hill towards them. "She was unconscious underwater." Jack told them. "I administered CPR; she was out maybe three minutes; tops."

"Ma'am; my name is Myla; can you tell me your name?" A brunette doctor asked Danni as she got a penlight out of her kit.

"Danni Carter." Danni told her as Jack helped her up into a sitting position.

"You alright for a second?" Jack asked her. Danni answered him with a withering look that told him to piss off. "I'll be right back." Jack got to his feet and ran up the hill to Agent Smith.

"Smith; can I use your phone?" He asked the young man.

"Yes, sir. Of course." Agent Smith handed Jack his cell.

Jack phoned Chloe and talked to Bill. He told him everything he heard while tied up in the warehouse. About the apartment; one Danni seemed to know about, how all three of Maliqe's men were dead, how Danni had almost drowned; everything except the little fact that he'd kissed Danni; he really didn't see the point. Besides; Bill would just yell. Jack also inquired about the welfare of Danni's little boy knowing that she'd benefit from knowledge that he was alright. When Jack got off the phone; Danni was walking up the hill with the paramedics; obviously annoyed that they wouldn't seem to let her walk on her own.

"I'm not an invalid." She was saying. "I have legs; let me use them!"

Jack was relieved; she sure sounded like herself. "Is she alright?" He asked Myla as he went over to them.

"I would recommend she get a CT scan to rule out anything serious but physically she seems fine." Myla told Jack. "Thanks to you." She and her partner nodded goodbyes to Jack and Danni before hurrying off to see if anyone else had been injured in the blast.

"Did you call Bill?" Danni asked when they were alone.

"Yeah; he wants me to go to this apartment and check it out." Jack told her.

"Alright; let's go." Danni said purposefully.

"You're not coming with me." Jack said bluntly.

Danni closed her eyes tiredly; this conversation was getting really tedious. "Yes, I am." She retorted. "I'll run after the cars if I have to but I'm coming, Jack."

"If Maliqe sees you-" Jack started.

"Yeah, I know, he'll kill me." Danni cut in. "So I'll be no worse off then I am right now."

Jack paused. "What do you know about the apartment?"

Danni sighed. "I haven't heard Maliqe mention it in years; I assumed he didn't use it anymore." She shook her head. "It was one of the places he had Micah and I work in. We developed the software on the chip there. But Maliqe didn't like us staying in one 

place for too long. That place we stayed in the longest; a whole month. Since then he's never said a thing about it."

"Why would he go back there?" Jack inquired.

Danni shrugged. "I don't know." She admitted. "But I do know that apartment. And I know the neighbourhood. I can get you there in five minutes and get you in the building without being seen. Jack, you're stupid if you don't bring me along." She raised her eyebrows.

Jack eyed her for a moment; mentally judging her readiness for this task. She'd had a breakdown in the warehouse before the explosion. Not to mention the fact that she'd almost drowned. Jack had to suppress a smile, _only in Danni could a bomb shock her back into coherence._ "Fine." Jack finally agreed coolly. "But you do _exactly_ as I say."

"Wouldn't have it any other way." Danni smirked. "See how I rhyme? This'll be fun."

**xxx**

Jack had to admit; he was impressed. Danni directed him to the apartment block in under five minutes. They took mostly back roads and never ran into a set of traffic lights. They wound up in a quieter part of town at about 4:25 and parked in an alley two blocks away from the building. Jack had taken Agent Smith's SUV from the marina so the trunk was loaded with guns and ammunition. Jack exited the car and he and Danni went to the back of the car to arm themselves. Jack had lost his gun somewhere between the time he'd been tied up and when he'd dragged Danni out of the harbor so he took two of the handguns from the trunk and slid one into the back of his jeans.

Danni did the same as well as take two extra rounds and slide them into her jacket pocket. The CTU agents had given them extra clothes to change into. If they were in a better place, Danni would have made the joke to Jack that they looked like matching secret agents; both in jeans, black t-shirts and black jackets. But she held her tongue and continued gathering weapons.

Jack took out Agent Smith's cell phone and phoned Chloe. "Chloe; its Jack." He answered. "I need you to see if you can get infrared on the Madison apartment block on Dixon Avenue. See if there's anything nuclear inside."

"On it." Chloe answered. "It'll take a few minutes; I'll send it to your new PDA."

"Thanks." Jack hung up and took out his new PDA that had come with Agent Smith's car. He clicked it on and did a search of the area they were currently in. "There's a block of apartments across the road from the Madison." He said to Danni.

"Yeah; the, ah…Flinders-something." Danni recalled. "It was abandoned when we worked here; people kept moving out cos the bombs on the city; owner couldn't afford to run it anymore. It's pretty much used by addicts and the homeless now. Although with the bombs; who knows?"

"We should go there and take cover." Jack told her; grabbing a satchel from the trunk and loading it with ammo, binoculars, flashlights, bandages and then grabbed a rifle. "You ready?"

Loading her gun and clicking on the safety, Danni smiled. "Totally."

Chloe sent Jack the Intel he needed as he and Danni entered the Flinders-Hope apartment block. It was pretty much abandoned but there were a few homeless men 

sleeping in a corner on a couple of ragged, moth-eaten couches. They didn't even move as Danni and Jack headed up the staircase. From what Danni remembered; the apartment that she and Maliqe had worked on was on the fifth floor. This apartment block only had six floors but by the time she and Jack had ascended them all; they were out of breath.

Jack leant against the wall trying to steady his breathing and took out his PDA. He opened the infrared file that Chloe had sent him. "The bomb's in there." He said simply; sensing the alarm in Danni's presence.

"What?" She asked worriedly. "Why would he bring it here?"

"The President's giving his speech less then ten blocks from here." Jack told her. "This was probably his last rendezvous point all along."

"So what do we do?" Danni asked.

"The apartment is on the North side." Jack told her as he read from his PDA. "So we need to be on the South side of _this_ building to see into the room." Danni nodded as Jack continued up the last flight of stairs. They were on the sixth floor. Jack wanted to be one level higher so they could get a larger view of the room across the street. Room 145 was locked before Jack kicked it open. He assumed none of the homeless or drug addicts or whoever had been using this building cared to climb this high because this apartment looked less-abandoned then the others they'd passed.

"Not as crappy as the rest." Danni muttered as they entered.

"Yeah." Jack answered heading over to the window. He opened the thick, dusty curtains slightly and glanced over the road. "Danni; can you pin-point the room from here?"

"Ah; probably. It had a graffiti covered balcony; Maliqe couldn't be bothered fixing it." Danni said as she walked over to Jack. By the time she arrived he'd already found it. "Yeah; that's the one. Idiot never closed the curtains."

Jack took out a hand-held telescope from his satchel and aimed it across the road. Even from this vantage point, he couldn't get a view of everything in the room. But on a coffee table in the corner, half out of sight, was a silver container; similar to the one the bomb had been in at the warehouse back at the marina. "Check that out." Jack handed Danni the telescope. "That look like the bomb to you?"

Danni had to suppress her surprise at Jack asking for her opinion; that was a first for the day. She calmly took the telescope and spied at the room. "Yeah; that looks like it." Danni agreed. "Same one as the warehouse where you got shot." She reminded Jack.

"Yeah." He muttered, moving away from the window. "Keep your eye on the room; let me know if anyone, _anyone, _shows up." He got out his cell to call CTU again.

Danni half-listened to Jack talking to Chloe and then Bill on the phone as she watched for Maliqe. She didn't think anyone was there; the only light was from the moon but it was a clear night now that the rain had passed. Danni let the scope wander a little to see if maybe Maliqe had branched out into other hotel rooms. She noticed some movement through an open window on the third floor so she focused the lens for a better look. It wasn't Maliqe, it was an man and a woman she didn't recognize. And they were having sex.

Danni gasped a little louder then she meant to. "Oh, my…"



"What?" Jack asked worriedly as she got off the phone.

"Oh, no, nothing." Danni answered; she hadn't meant to alert him; it was just her immature mind that had her stare at the couple. As well as the fact she hadn't had fun like _that_ since she and Mark broke up. But Jack was already by her side looking out the window.

"What is it?" Jack asked.

"Ah…that-there's a couple having sex over there." She said pointing. "Oh; they shut the blinds."

Jack saw a half-naked woman on the third floor frantically closing her curtains. "Huh…keep looking." He told Danni, hurriedly moving away from her.

Danni smiled to herself. "Yes, sir." She replied chirpily.

Jack busied himself with double checking the weapons in his bag. His cell phone rang. "Bauer." Jack answered; grateful for the distraction.

"Jack; it's Bill." Buchannon answered. "We just got surveillance footage from the apartment block from ten minutes ago. Maliqe slipped up; one camera caught him exiting the parking lot."

"Send in the bomb squad." Jack told him matter-of-factly. "The nuke is in there, Bill."

"Maliqe'll come back, Jack." Bill told him. "He wouldn't leave the bomb behind. When he comes back; jump him."

"What am I supposed to do until then?" Jack asked.

"Wait." Bill replied simply. Then he hung up.

Jack sighed and hung up his cell. He turned around to see Danni on her feet stretching her back and twisting it. He eyed the exposed portion of her abdomen and noticed a faded, purplish scar on her smooth skin. "Nice scar." He spoke up.

Danni stopped yawning and looked at Jack with a confused face. Then she realized he'd been looking at her stomach. "Oh. Yeah." She lifted her shirt and showed him it front on. "Thirty-nine hours of labour. _Finally_ had a c-section."

Jack smiled. Then he re-iterated everything Bill had told him to Danni; how now all they could do was wait until Maliqe came back. If ever. Jack gave him an hour; tops. If he wasn't back by then; Jack was going in after the bomb.

"Did your boss say anything about Billy?" Danni asked.

"He's fine; still asleep." Jack told her. "Your mother-in-law just landed in LA. CTU are picking her up; she'll wait there 'til we get back."

Danni nodded. "She's not my mother-in-law." She corrected Jack. "I never married Mark; she's just Billy's Grandmother." She sighed. "And, boy, does she hate me."

"Why?" Jack inquired.

Danni shrugged and went back to looking through the telescope. "So many reasons. I took her son away from her, wouldn't marry him, had a baby, wasn't around enough. 

Plus; she's a bitch." Danni sighed again. "But she has a point; I wasn't there enough when Billy was little. Lucky for me; _she_ was. She'll take care of him if…something happens."

Jack looked away from Danni. He gathered up all the guns and weaponry and moved them to the desk in the corner.

"Do you still see your daughter?" Danni asked suddenly.

Her question caught Jack off guard. He turned to her quickly; immediately uncomfortable. Kim was a definite sore spot with him; he'd ruined her life so badly; he was so ashamed of what he'd put her through. "Not as often as I'd like." Jack answered.

"I saw her." Danni admitted. She took her eye off the telescope and looked at Jack. "At your funeral. She's beautiful."

Jack smiled to himself. "Yeah; she is. All her mother."

"Yeah, ah...listen...I'm sorry about what I said back at the marina about Terri." Danni apologized. "I crossed a line; I was mad...I am very sorry that she died." Jack simply nodded once in thanks so Danni went back to looking in the telescope. Although now it seemed almost useless since Maliqe was no longer there.

Jack grabbed his handgun and went to watch out the window with Danni. He stood beside her and thought for a moment. "I'm sorry I kissed you." He finally said.

Danni didn't take her eyes of the telescope. She didn't really know what to think. Or to say, for that matter. She hadn't thought much about their kiss back at the marina. She certainly didn't regret it. But apparently, Jack had. And this thought actually made Danni sad. She took her eye of the telescope and looked up at Jack. "Really?" she hadn't meant to sound so surprised.

Her eyes were wet, Jack noted as he looked into them. She looked concerned and confused at the same time. Very slowly, Jack shook his head. "No." He admitted.

Danni nodded. "Good." Then she went back to looking at through the telescope. The apartment across the road was still dark. She could feel Jack's eyes still on her. She looked back at him. He edged closer to her.

Jack wasn't sure why he did it; maybe because he knew they both needed something right then, or maybe it was just the rush of feelings that came back when they'd seen each other and then kissed each other. Or maybe it was just because sometimes hormones rule all; but Jack leaned in and kissed Danni full on the mouth. And he felt, among everything else he was feeling; relief shot through him when he felt her kiss him back.

It wasn't until she kissed Jack that Danni realized how much she wanted it to happen. She grabbed the side of Jack's face and kissed him even more deeply then he did her. The setting wasn't romantic but it would serve them well. Danni leant against Jack and pushed him back against the wall; never once breaking free of his lips. He then took control and turned them around so he was pushing on her. Danni unzipped his jacket and revealed his toned, smooth chest beneath it. She gently helped Jack remove his shirt, taking extra care around injured arm, before running her hands across his bare back.

Jack, having regained the use of his right hand, removed Danni's t-shirt and bra over her head in one easy motion. He then pressed his bare chest into hers and kissed her again; 

holding her gaze as he did so. He wrapped his good arm around her middle and turned her towards the bed.

Walking backwards Danni couldn't take her hands off Jack; it was as though she wasn't even in her own body anymore. Perhaps some alien nymphomaniac had possessed her because in that moment; all she wanted was Jack inside her.

The back of Danni's heel hit something and she knew they were at the bed. Jack's hands left the small of her back and proceeded to undo her jeans as they fell back together on the mattress.


	24. Chapter 24

**_Sorry for the long wait! I've been catching up on most of my fics lately; good thing about being laid off I guess!! Anyway; hope it was worth the wait! xox_**

**CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR**

**Hour Thirteen**

**5:00-6:00**

Chloe rubbed her temple as an approaching migraine entered her skull. She needed to take a break but she also needed to help Jack and Danni get their hands on Maliqe. So she was watching the apartment block where the nuke was on satellite and taking note of any cars that came past or people that slowed down near the building.

"Chloe." Bill called to her as he came over to her desk. "I just got off the phone with the Secretary of Defense. Air Force One just landed."

"Great." Chloe muttered. By all accounts these terrorists were planning on destroying the nuke at a press conference President Palmer would be having in just over two hours.

"Security's been brought up to date but we gotta neutralize this bomb." Bill told her. "Get Jack on the phone; tell him to go in."

"You told him before to wait for Maliqe to come back." Chloe reminded him. "And Danni said he probably-"

"I don't care what I said before; our priority is to protect the President and that's what you'll do." Bill told her firmly. "Call Jack."

"Yes sir." Chloe mumbled.

"Mr. Buchannon?" Sara, the head of CTU daycare, said as she came up to him with a woman in her mid-sixties who appeared grief-stricken and very worried. "This is Sylvia Harris; Billy Carter's grandmother."

"Oh, of course." Bill shook her hand. "I'm Bill Buchannon. I am terribly sorry for the loss of your son, Mark."

"Thank you." She nodded with a brave smile. "Where is my grandson?"

"He's sleeping upstairs." Sara told Bill. "I can take her there."

"No; I got it. Thanks Sara." Bill told her as he directed Sylvia into an interview room. "Do you mind if I ask you a few questions about your daughter-in-law?"

"Danielle is not my daughter-in-law." Sylvia corrected him.

"Right." Bill nodded as he directed her to a seat. "Did you know she was involved in a terrorist group?"

Sylvia sighed and shook her head. "Look, Mr. Buchannon, I make no attempt to pretend that Danielle is my most favourite person in the world, but she is not a terrorist."

"She's been linked with-"

"I _assure_ you, you must not know the full story." Sylvia told him firmly. "When she had Billy; I just thought she was a deadbeat mother; never wanted to spend time with him. I was wrong; she was involved in something way over her head. To protect Billy; she stayed away from him. And I'm sure she'd agree with me when I tell you that was the smartest thing she could do for that boy." Sylvia got to her feet. "I'd like to see my grandson now."

"Of course." Bill nodded; seeing she wasn't going to relent. He directed her outside and upstairs to where Billy was sleeping. Not wanting to disturb him, Bill spoke to Sylvia by the doorway. "Ma'am; we'd like you to stay here until Danielle gets back."

"Back?" Sylvia looked confused. "Where is she now?"

"She's working with one of our agents on a high security matter." Bill told her.

Sylvia closed her eyes and when she opened them; they glistened with tears. "Well you best hope she comes home safely, Mr. Buchannon. Because I'll be damned if that my grandson loses both his parents on the same day."

**xxx**

Jack awoke first. Although a twenty minute post-sex nap didn't exactly count as sleep. Danni lay beside him curled half into a ball with the sheets pulled up to her chin. The sheet wasn't really all that big so half of Danni's naked back was exposed. Jack watched her; wondering if he'd perhaps made the biggest mistake of his life. Not only personally, but professionally. He'd always remained so on target in situations like this and now he was having sex with a possible suspect while waiting for further instructions?

Getting out of bed, Jack yanked on his jeans, making sure his gun was secure in the back of his pants, and headed into the bathroom. He splashed cold water on his face and stared at his reflection. He could see Danni through the mirror still asleep in the bed. He only realized he was staring at her when the vibrating of his phone ringing on the bedside table diverted his attention. He quickly grabbed the phone and went into the hallway so Danni wouldn't wake up.

"Bauer." He answered, trying to sound professional.

"Jack; it's Chloe." Her harried voice replied. "I've been calling you for ten minutes; where've you been?" She didn't wait for his reply. "Bill wants you to go in after the nuke; the President just landed in LA."

Jack was confused; reiterating to Chloe the plan Bill had ordered him to go by.

"I know; he changed his mind." Chloe said sardonically. "He wants the nuke in our control."

Jack sighed. "Put him on the phone." He told Chloe.

"Transferring." She replied as she put him on hold.

"Buchannon." Bill answered a moment later.

"Bill; it's Jack. What's going on?" Jack asked.

"We don't have time to wait for Maliqe." Bill told him.

"He'll have a back up." Jack pressed. "We take this bomb out of play; he'll know it and he'll move on to Plan B."

"Jack; we got less than two hours before the press conference." Bill told him firmly. "Take out that damn bomb!"

Jack sneered to himself but agreed with Bill. "Fine. I'll call you when we're in position. Get a bomb squad out here ASAP." With that he hung up his phone. Walking into the room to wake up Danni; he realized she wasn't in bed. He immediately took out his gun, knowing that she too had a weapon, and glanced over at the window. It was still shut. And he'd been in the hall outside the only other exit. "Danni?" he called.

"Yeah?" she came out of the bathroom dressed in her clothes. She eyed his gun. "Seriously?"

Jack pocked his weapon. "We gotta move; Bill wants us over there now." He quickly explained to her the change in plan; she seemed on board with it. "What's the best way in there?"

Granted, Danni hadn't been in that apartment block in some time; but she knew the best way in and out. "There's a window at the basement; we can go through the fire escape from there all the way to the fifth level."

Jack grabbed his shirt and threw it on. "Then let's move." He told her, gathering up all their weapons. Danni helped and barely two minutes later, they were hurrying down the stairs of the apartment block.

Out in the street; Jack rang CTU for an ETA on the bomb squad and were told they were eight to ten minutes out and Jack and Danni needed to secure the bomb. Danni and Jack swiftly ran across the street and Danni took the lead around the back of the apartment block. The terrain came back to her as she walked and she found the basement window easily. The latch had always been a snap to open so getting in was no problem, though they had to wiggle on their bellies to get through it. Jack went in first to secure the basement before he helped Danni through. He let her take the lead again and they made their way to the fire escape.

"Jack; what about the people in the building?" Danni asked as they took the stairs. In particular she was thinking about the couple she'd seen having sex through the window.

"We defuse the bomb; they got nothing to worry about." Jack answered. He hadn't seen anyone bar the couple through the window in the whole building. "Bomb Squad'll do a sweep when they get here anyway; our target is the nuke."

Danni nodded; her chest heaving as they ran up the fourth flight of stairs. By the time they got to the fifth floor; they were both panting. Jack now took the lead for certain; making sure Danni was a few seconds behind him in case they were the victims of a sneak attack. He edged out of the fire escape with his gun at the ready, scoping out the left and right halls before hugging the wall and making it down to Maliqe's apartment. When he was secure behind a pillar he motioned to Danni and she came out of the fire escape and followed Jack's path.

Checking the lock on the door; Jack realized it was open and carefully entered the apartment. The lights were off and the room was still. Jack's senses immediately kicked into action. His eyes adjusted to the lack of light almost immediately and his ears were poised to hear any sound of movement. He felt Danni arrived behind him, her breath low but ragged. He motioned to her to stay by the door as he cleared the apartment. He checked the bedrooms first and found nothing and no one inside them. He met up with Danni in the living room; she was staring at the silver case they'd seen through the window that housed the bomb. Jack checked the kitchen, bathroom and balcony to make sure they were alone before he got out his cell and called Bill; letting him know they had the bomb.

Danni looked over the bomb carefully. "Jack; this thing is solid but it won't blow." She told him.

"What do you mean?" he asked as he came over to her.

"It's pretty much completely useless." She explained. "I could empty my gun into it and it still wouldn't detonate. Safety maneuver; if they brought it over from Iraq themselves; they woulda had to hide it. It'd be kinda easy to spot if he had all his men tentatively stepping around it."

Jack got a message on his phone and checked it. It was the bomb squad; they'd arrived about a kilometer from the apartment and had proceeded on foot. He sent a message back to make sure they did a sweep to look for civilians then waited with Danni by the bomb.

Jack knelt beside it. "And you're sure this bomb can only be activated and deactivated by your code?"

Danni nodded. "The software is embedded with it. Without the code it'll blow right away."

"Why did Maliqe set up such a technical weapon?" Jack thought aloud.

"He wants people to think he's smart." Danni shrugged.

Jack's cell rang. It was Agent Daniels; the leader of the bomb squad. His team were in the building. Jack told them the level and room number and barely two minutes later, three of the squad was surrounding the bomb. Jack left Danni with the agents and followed Daniels out into the hall.

"Did you clear the building?" Jack asked him.

"My men are doing so as we speak, sir." Daniels answered.

"Ok; once it's clear and Danni deactivates that thing you move it outta here as fast as you can, am I clear?" Jack told him. "If Maliqe does come back I don't want him to know we were here so cover your tracks."

"Of course, sir." Daniels said again.

The two men went back into the apartment in time to see Danni stepping away from the bomb. Jack went over to her. "Did you do it?"

Danni nodded. "Yeah; gave 'em the code. They're diffusing it now."

"Ok." Jack pulled her further into the hallway. "Maliqe will have a back-up plan; you told me that."

"Yeah; but I have no idea. There are about a million places like this he might go to." Danni said with a shrug. "I had no idea he'd use this apartment again. It'd take days to search them all."

Jack hung his head. "That was probably his plan all along; make us waste our time so he can do whatever the hell he wants."

"So what do we do?" Danni asked folding her arms.

Before Jack could answer a bullet sailed through the hall directly between he and Danni. Without thinking, Jack grabbed Danni by the shoulders and yanked her backwards as he shoved his elbow into a closed apartment door and barged in. He let Danni go and they both got out their guns.

"Daniels!" Jack yelled. "Code Red!" He screamed as more bullets rang out. He poised himself at the doorway, gun armed, and ducked around the edge shooting down two men he saw coming towards them. "Danni; stay put!" He yelled at her as he ran into the hall and took cover in the doorway opposite them as he tried to make his way to the bomb squad.

Three more men came into the hall and Jack fired a shot in each of their necks. He heard someone yell in urgent Middle Eastern for his men to pull back. Jack took the opportunity and hurried into the apartment where the bomb was. Daniels and his men were readying their guns and calling their men on radios.

"What's going on; you said this place was clear?!" Jack yelled at Daniels.

"It was! I had a team sweep the first floor; but I can't seem to contact any of them down there." Daniels said anxiously.

"Sonuvabitch." Jack realized. "They knew we were coming." Danni immediately came to his mind; could she be a mole? Was sleeping with him a ruse; distracting him so their men could get into position.

"Sir?" Agent Daniels said to Jack."What should we do?"

Jack snapped back into work mode. "Is the bomb deactivated?" he asked.

"It is now, sir." Another Agent, Agent Billson, said as he stepped away from the device. "The mechanism is destroyed."

Jack thought a moment. "Retreat." He told them. "Double back and come back around behind them."

"Yes sir." Daniels said with a firm nod.

"Do you have tear gas?" Jack asked him as reloaded his gun. Daniels removed a gas can from his vest and handed it to Jack. "Get your men ready." Daniels and his agents put on gas masks as Jack went out into the hall and pulled the pin of the can before chucking it down the end of the hallway. Shots went off but the gas obscured the view long enough for Daniels and his men to take control go in shooting while Jack hurried back over to the room where he'd left Danni.

"Danni?!" he called over the gunfire. But he couldn't see her.

"I'd lower that if I were you, Agent Bauer." A husky voice with a Middle Eastern accent.

Jack swirled around on his feet immediately and saw a man he recognized straight away as Maliqe Shiraz with his arm firmly around Danni's neck and a gun to her head. He was walking her out of the back bedroom and Jack could see at the roof above a vent was open; that was how they'd known Jack and Danni were there; they were in the innards of the apartment block. Jack locked eyes with Danni; he could see she was scared but anyone else would've thought she just looked vacant. "Let her go." He growled.

"Lower your weapon or she dies." Maliqe answered in an emotionless voice as he glared down at Danni under his arm.

Jack swallowed hard; his grip tightening on his gun. He saw Danni ever so subtly shake her head; telling him not to relent. But he couldn't let her die. Jack dropped his gun to the floor and raised his hands in the air. "Let her go; you don't need her."

"Perhaps you're right." Maliqe told him. "She's destroyed my nuke in the other room…what use is she to me now?" He yanked the back of her hair; causing her to yelp out loud. "You see, Agent Bauer…she has betrayed me." He stroked the side of her face with the tip of his gun. "Of course; she has betrayed you as well by working with me."

"Half a dozen armed CTU agents are approaching this building." Jack told Maliqe, ignoring his attempts to rattle him. "You'll never make it out of this building alive." Jack told him.

Maliqe smiled evilly. "I never intended to." He moved slightly to the side showing Jack what was strapped to his chest.

Jack recognized at least eight bars of C4 wired to Maliqe's body. His heart momentarily jumped to his throat but Jack just swallowed it back down.

"You see, Agent Bauer...your President is not unique." Maliqe said as he walked with Danni towards Jack. "There will be more like him. And there will be more like me to challenge him. But there is only one of her." He jostled Danni in his arms. Then he pointed his gun at Jack. "And there is only one of you."

Danni took the window of opportunity as Maliqe moved his gun off her and bit into his forearm as hard as she could. Maliqe cursed and released her but she didn't get far, Maliqe cracked the back of her head with butt of his gun and she stumbled to the floor.

"Don't move!" Maliqe yelled at Jack; who had been reaching for his gun.

Jack backed away from Danni and his gun and held his hands up again.

"This is where it ends, Agent Bauer!" Maliqe yelled; beads of sweat forming on his forehead. He began fiddling with the wires on his vest but he didn't take his eyes off Jack.

Jack managed to grab Danni by the forearm as she scrambled to her feet and the two of them backed away as Maliqe kept moving towards them.

"You don't have to do this." Danni said to him as she held a hand to the back of her head where she'd been struck.

"Don't you tell me what to do, you bitch!" He shrieked at her. "You should thank your God that I chose to kill you this way and not torture you the way the others wanted!" He removed a trigger from his pocket that was flashed a red light.

Jack gripped Danni's arm as they continued towards the window. He knew that all Maliqe had to do was push that trigger. That left Jack and Danni with one option. Jump.

"You will not win!!" Maliqe yelled as he walked uneasily towards them. "I have won! Al-Haeq cannot be defeated!"

Suddenly the door to the apartment opened and a CTU agent with his gun poised came in. "FEDERAL AGENT!" He screamed.

Maliqe turned his head giving Jack the opportunity he needed. He couldn't save that agent; but he could save Danni. He gripped her arm as he crashed through the window. It shattered to pieces but moments later every window in the whole apartment exploded as Maliqe hit the trigger. An fireball of heat followed Danni and Jack as they soared towards the ground. Though they were five floors up; the roof of a smaller building beside the apartment was where they landed; just over a ten foot drop. They're hands lost each other in the fall as they hit the gravel rooftop awkwardly and heavily; both losing consciousness when their heads collided with the ground as the apartment block burned tunnels of black smoke into the early morning sky beside them.

**xxx**


	25. Chapter 25

**CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE**

**Hour Fourteen**

**6:00-7:00**

Danni awoke first. She felt like she'd been thrown off a building. Then she remembered; she had. One side of her face was scratched and all of her bones ached. She moved her legs and arms slightly and felt harsh pangs in her muscles; but nothing felt broken; she could still move. She lifted her head; it felt like it weighed a ton. The sun was almost completely up now. Danni rolled onto her back and looked up at the window she'd been thrown from with Jack.

_Jack_.

He'd been thrown, too.

Turning her head; Danni saw a heap of something laying on its side and wearing Jack's clothes. "Jack." She realized, pushing herself up onto her knees. She didn't feel strong enough to get to her feet so she just crawled over to him. "Jack?" She reached him and shook his shoulder. "Jack!" She was relieved when he immediately started waking up. "Hey; you ok?" She held a hand to a bleeding cut on his head and helped him sit up.

Jack felt like he'd been hit by a truck; he glanced at his watch and saw that it had shattered in the fall and read 5:59; the time that they'd been pushed out the window. "How long was I out?" he asked Danni.

"It's almost 6:15." Danni told him as she checked her own watch that had survived the descent.

"We gotta get back to CTU." Jack said as he got to his feet; relieved he hadn't seriously hurt himself this time.

"What's the hurry?" Danni asked; realizing as she tried to get up that she had injured her ankle. "Ow, ow!" She hopped up and down on her good foot.

Jack took both of her hands and helped her to her feet; making her lean her weight on him and not on her sore ankle. "The President's due to give his speech at eight."

"But we disarmed the bomb." Danni reminded him as they limped away. "And Maliqe just blew himself away."

"There's always a back up." Jack told her. "Maliqe wanted the President gone; he'd have something planned; just like he did at the marina." Jack told her; remembering all too clearly how Danni almost drowned earlier that morning. As Jack helped Danni down the fire escape; they were met halfway by a handful of CTU agents. "Get me Buchannon on the phone." He ordered to one of them.

Another agent took over helping Danni downstairs. She took it as a good sign that they didn't immediately put her in handcuffs. "What happens now?" she asked Jack.

"We'll go back to CTU and your pardon will be signed." Jack told her as he waited on hold for Bill.

"I can go?" It sounded too good to be true for Danni.

"The orders were once you completed your task with us; helped us find Maliqe and the bomb, your pardon would be signed and you'd be free to go." Jack reminded her. "You completed your task; we don't need you anymore."

She gave Jack a confused look. "Thank you." She could tell from the way he looked at her that what had happened in the hotel room a couple of hours before was going to remain a memory.

**xxx**

Sylvia watched Billy closely as he colored a picture for his mother. She had managed to distract him from asking questions about "Mummy" and "Agent Jack" by convincing him that they'd both like to see him draw a picture for them. She was still so confused. Her son Mark, Billy's father, had been murdered only a few hours before. She hadn't even had a chance to process that information. When she'd received the call from Bill Buchannon, he'd told her that her song was gone, Danielle was associated with terrorists and her grandson needed to be picked up in pretty much the same sentence

"Gamma; look." Billy was calling to her waving his picture in front of her eyes.

"Oh; that's wonderful darling." Sylvia stroked his hair and glanced at his drawing. "Tell me about it."

"That's Mama." Billy pointed to a pink circle with a smiley face on it. "And that's Daddy." He pointed to a black circle. And Agent Jack, see?" He pointed to a gray square that he'd colored in next to 'Jack'. "That Agent Jack's badge. He let me hold it."

"Did he?" Sylvia said absentmindedly.

"Yeah." Billy finished coloring in and sighed. "I hungry, Gamma."

"Me too." Sylvia smoothed his hair behind his ear. "Maybe we can go home soon; I'll cook you breakfast, would you like that?"

"Uh-huh." Billy nodded as he gathered up all his pictures.

There was a knock at the door and the two of them were joined by Bill Buchannon. "Mrs. Harris?"

"Any word on Danielle?" Sylvia asked as she got to her feet and took Billy's hand.

"She's ok." Bill assured her. "She's with our agents; she should be back soon."

"So we can go home?" Sylvia asked hopefully as Billy yawned hugely.

"Yes." Bill confirmed. "Would you prefer to leave now? I can have an officer escort you home."

Sylvia looked down as Billy rubbed his eyes and yawned again. "I think that would be best. Would you tell Danielle that we're at my home?"

"Of course." Bill agreed.

"What about those men who came for Billy earlier?" Sylvia tried to speak calmly so as not to alert her grandson. "What if they find us?"

"We'll have some agents stay with you for your protection." Bill assured here. "You ready to go, champ?" He asked the little boy.

"Yes!" Bill grabbed his drawings securely under his arm as his grandmother scooped him up off his feet and carried him on her hip.

"Billy; you thank Mr. Buchannon." Sylvia told him.

"Please; call me Bill." He smiled.

"Your name is my name." Billy told him with a toothy grin. "We the same."

"I guess we are." Bill was forced to smile back. "This is Agent Miller; he'll escort you home."

"Thank you." Sylvia said gratefully. "Thank you so much."

"Take care." Bill held the door aside for the two of them as the descended down the staircase.

"Mr. Buchannon?" Chloe called to him from the bottom of the stairs, as she waved a stiff goodbye to Billy who was grinning at her. "President Palmer is on the line for you."

**xxx**

"And you're sure?" Jack asked Agent Daniels for the third time.

"Yes." He nodded to Jack. "There are no other bombs in the building; nothing could have survived that blast. I lost five agents in there."

"I am sorry for the loss of your men." Jack told him honestly. "I am. But we can't stop now; we need to keep going. This wasn't the end. Their target was the President; there's no chance they've forgone that in lieu of blowing up a handful of agents."

"Our agents are already tailing the President's motorcade, we have experts searching the building where President Palmer is set to give his speech." Agent Daniels' cell phone started to ring. "Whatever they're doing; we'll figure it out. Excuse me." He stepped away from Jack and took his call.

Jack glanced at his watch; it was now 6:40; President Palmer was set to deliver his speech at eight. They needed to have this under control well before then. Danni was still Jack's best and only lead. She was receiving medical treatment in an ambulance along with some of the wounded agents. She was having her ankle strapped when Jack arrived. "Is she alright?" he asked the paramedic.

"Bad twist; but not even broken." The paramedic replied. "She was lucky. As were you, Agent Bauer. A fall from that height? I'd like to examine you for concussion as well as internal injuries."

"I'm fine." Jack assured him; although the bullet wound in his shoulder chose that moment to start stinging like hell.

"You are such a baby." Danni told him before turning to the medic. "If you want him to do something; you have to make him think it was his idea or he won't do it."

Jack glanced at her, not happy with her judge of his character, and proceeded to take off his shirt. "I was shot a few hours ago; I had a hit of Lidocaine at about two."

"I'll give you another injection." The medic told Jack as he finished up Danni's ankle. "You're good here; don't put too much strain on it." He added as she swapped places with Jack and filled a syringe with Lidocaine.

"You're proving my point, y'know?" Danni teased Jack as she gingerly testing her ankle.

"Danni; we need you to think." Jack told her seriously. "Maliqe's back up plan."

"Jack; how many times do I have to tell you he didn't keep me informed?" Danni told him. "He was the top of the ladder; everyone answered to him. And now he's in a million pieces somewhere in there." She gestured to the still smoking rubble of the building nearby. "My next point of call would be Rahjid; but he's with your people." She shrugged. "I really don't know."

Jack winced as the medic injected his shoulder. "What was protocol if you couldn't get to Maliqe?"

Danni shook her head. "Micah and I were pretty much on our own; we weren't told."

"Danni; think!" Jack demanded as he shrugged his shirt back on. "What were you supposed to do if Maliqe died?"

Danni exhaled loudly and thought back as far as she could. She hadn't been involved in any big missions or anything with Al Haeq; her work with the computer chip was as far out of the circle as she could get. Half the time she didn't know what she was working on. It was only this past year when she started getting calls from Maliqe that she heard hints and whispers of what the plans were. But she'd heard so many different plans, half of which never eventuated into anything, how was she supposed to find the answer? Then, as sudden as déjà vu, she remembered. "Oh God." She said. "I remember. If Maliqe died; the orders were to drop everything. That was it; we were done. Go out with a bang." She remembered that phrase. "Go out with a bang." She repeated quietly.

"Go out with a bang?" Jack echoed. "What the hell does that mean?"

"It was like a mantra to however many members of Al Haeq remained," Danni informed him. "To do as much damage as you can as fast as you can." she said fearfully. "Jack; the target isn't the President anymore. It's Los Angeles."

**xxx**


End file.
